Fred Segal has been telling us what’s hip since the 1960s.
Dubbed the original ‘Curator of Cool,’ Fred himself defined the LA look. His first boutique opened in West Hollywood and quickly attracted the biggest names in show business, among them were The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Jackson 5.
Ahead of his time, Fred created the first high-fashion jean, pioneered the shop-in-shop retail concept, invented influencer culture and even dressed Elvis Presley!
Jeff Lotman, founder of Global Icons and the current owner of Fred Segal, shares more of the brand’s history, plus how it still has the ‘it’ factor.
Dubbed the original ‘Curator of Cool,’ Segal defined the LA look
The Fred Segal brand was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Fred Segal, who passed away at the age of 87 in 2021
Fred was a jean-ious
The Fred Segal brand was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Fred Segal, who passed away at the age of 87 in 2021.
The LA-raised businessman and visionary was the first to put high-fashion jeans (and more!) on the map.
‘Back then Levis were selling for $3.99 and he thought he would sell them for $19.99 with a little tweaking,’ shared Jeff.
‘He took the Levis, tapered the top, flared the bottom and embellished them with rhinestones.
‘And what was even more incredible is that he invented the whole influencer culture because he gave them to the people who worked at P.J.’s the bar across the street (one of LA’s first discotheques located on Santa Monica Blvd.)
‘When people would go to the bar and ask where they got their great jeans from they would say Fred Segal.’
From the success of high-fashion denim Fred developed his iconic “jeans bar” which Jeff describes as a giant wall of jeans, a concept that has been copied by many other retailers.
With an impeccable eye for style, Jeff reveals that ‘Fred dressed Elvis for five years straight. Elvis would not wear any clothes except what Fred Segal made for him’
Of Elvis Presley’s Fred Segal collection, two…
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