Edith Flagg, who fought against Nazi forces during World War II and eventually popularized polyester during her storied career as a fashion designer, passed away at her Century City home last month.
Her family said she died of natural causes age 94 on Aug. 13. She was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City.
Born in Romania in 1919, Flagg studied fashion during her teen years in Vienna before moving to the Netherlands.
Explaining her experience resisting the Nazis and surviving the Holocaust in a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Flagg moved to Los Angeles in 1948. Working various jobs within the fashion industry, Flagg went on to start her own business designing and manufacturing clothes. Her company was called Edith Flagg, Inc., and was founded in 1956.
Growing her business and helping popularize the use of polyester, Flagg soon built a fortune and, according to several interviews and news reports, acquired several real estate holdings in Beverly Hills.
Fast forward to the 21st Century, Flagg reportedly shut down her clothing business in 2000 and had become a philanthropist.
Her grandson has also established quite the name for himself. Josh Flagg is one of three co-stars of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.” The nonagenerian also made a few appearances on the show, which contributed to her maintaining relevance in pop culture despite it being decades after polyester became a thing of the past.
In 2009, Josh Flagg published a book about his grandmother.
Flagg was also a contributor to California Apparel News.
Her first husband was reportedly captured by the Nazis in World War II and died at Auschwitz. Flagg later married her second husband, Eric, prior to her move to the United States. Both Eric and Edith Flagg were actively members of the Nazi resistance during the 1940s.
