Edith Flagg | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edith Faierstein (1919-11-01)November 1, 1919 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | August 13, 2014(2014-08-13) (aged 94) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Fashion designer, businesswoman, television personality, philanthropist |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Josh Flagg(grandson) |
Edith Flagg (néeFaierstein, also known asFeuerstein; November 1, 1919 – August 13, 2014) was an Austrian-born Americanfashion designer, fashion industry executive, andphilanthropist. She was the first designer to import polyester as a fashion textile to America.[1][2] In her later life, Flagg became known for her recurring role on theBravotelevision programMillion Dollar Listing Los Angeles with her grandsonJosh Flagg.[3][4]
Edith Flagg was born Edith Faierstein to aJewish family on November 1, 1919, inVienna, Austria.[5] She was raised inGalați, Romania, where her father worked as a photographer. At the age of 15 she returned to Vienna to study fashion and lived inAustria through her teenage years.[3] WhenHitler annexed Austria in 1938, she fled to theNetherlands with her boyfriend Hans Stein.[1]
She married Hans Stein after they moved to the Netherlands in 1938.[1] Instead of leaving the Netherlands after the German invasion, Flagg took the identity of the deceased Lydia Voskuilen.[3] When she became pregnant with her son Michael, she hid the child in a sanitarium and posed as a nurse in order to visit him.[6] Hans Stein was captured by Germans and sent toAuschwitz where he was murdered in 1944.[3]
After Stein's death, Flagg worked within theDutch underground resistance where she met her second husband Erich Simon Flegenheimer (later known as Eric Flagg), and after the war they married.[7][6][8] Together they were responsible for saving several lives. She acted as a spy, swimming with Nazi soldiers and relaying what she overheard.[3] Flagg reportedly killed two Nazis.[6][9] Eric then moved to the United States and Edith and Michael lived on akibbutz in Palestine, what would soon become Israel. Edith and Michael followed Eric to the United States and while Eric worked in New York, Edith and Michael moved to San Francisco and lived with Hans' parents. Edith, Eric and Michael then moved to Los Angeles in 1949.[8][6][10]
Flagg started her career after arriving in New York in 1948 as a seamstress, progressing to design, then later inLos Angeles, California, working in theGarment District. She began her first line of dresses in 1956 with a $2,000 investment of her own savings.[10] Her clothing-line "Edith Flagg, Inc." (1956–2000) manufactured in the United States from the 1950s until her retirement from the fashion industry in 2000. The brand was characterized by its wrinkle-resistant knitwear.[11] As of 2012, the company reportedly afforded her a net worth of $100 million.[1]
Flagg was the first person to import polyester to the United States and popularize it. She discovered a type ofpolyester calledCrimplene which was being produced byImperial Chemical Industries out ofLeeds, England. The material was used for parachutes and military uniforms during World War II, resulting in a post-war surplus.[3] Flagg found the new fabric while vacationing in Switzerland in the 1960s. She signed an exclusive advertising contract withDuPont to import Crimplene from England and popularize under the name polyester.[1][4] She also imported the synthetic fabric Dacron.[1][2][3][12] Edith Flagg, Inc. expanded from a successful dress manufacturing company in Los Angeles to an international design house with offices and showrooms in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Charlotte and London, as well as a factory in Hong Kong.[10]
She was an active contributor toCalifornia Apparel News andWomen's Wear Daily in a weekly column titled "By the Way."[1] Later, she often appeared on the television showMillion Dollar Listing Los Angeles to offer business advice to her grandson,Josh Flagg. When Josh was fourteen, he wroteA Simple Girl: Stories My Grandmother Told Me, a book about her survival during World War II and her career. The book was published in 2009, prior to the show.[13][14]
She was a donor to theUnited Jewish Welfare Fund, a Jewish non-profit organization, and theCity of Hope, a private hospital in California.[6]
Flagg retired in 2000 to concentrate on her philanthropy, focusing on Jewish and medical causes.[1] She was a donor to theUnited Jewish Welfare Fund, a Jewish non-profit organization, and theCity of Hope, a private hospital in California of which she and her husband were also board members.[6][15] Proceeds from her biographyA Simple Girl: Stories My Grandmother Told Me were donated to theJewish Federation.[14] Flagg and her husband were the recipients of multiple awards from theNational Conference of Christians and Jews and The United Jewish Welfare Fund.[16]
Flagg spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, Romanian, English, French, German and Dutch.[3] She resided in a penthouse inThe Century Towers on theAvenue of the Stars, Century City inLos Angeles, which she and her husband purchased fromJack Benny in 1976 for the highest price recorded for a condominium in Los Angeles up to that date.[3][17]
She died on August 13, 2014, in her penthouse in Century City of natural causes.[1][6][18] She was ninety-four years old.[17] She was buried at theHillside Memorial Park Cemetery, aJewish cemetery inCulver City, California, and the reception took place at theHillcrest Country Club.[6]
Note: listed in chronological order
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