FIDM's Murray Dies
Margaret “Maggie” Pexton Murray, former retail executive, curator and fashion historian at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), died of heart failure Dec. 17 in her Hollywood home, according to Shirley Wilson, FIDM communications director. Murray was 80.
Murray, who was known for her impeccable taste in fashion, strong analytical sense of trends and witty sense of humor, established herself as a fashion historian with many talents. She was considered a strong force in Los Angeles’ fashion industry, with a career that spanned almost 50 years.
“Her demeanor was similar to the women characterized in 1940s films featuring Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck—she was made with a very strong mold,” said Wilson.
Murray’s career began in the early 1940s. After graduating from Stanford University, she moved to Miami, where she produced upscale fashion shows in hotel lobbies. Murray had a knack for advertising and was hired as a copywriter for May Co. in 1946. During her 17-year tenure at the company she held positions as vice president of advertising, fashion and sales promotion.
However, Murray will most likely be recognized for her recent achievements within the local community.
For the past 25 years Murray had worked at FIDM, where she served as a member of the college’s executive council and advisory board. She was lauded for her fashion direction at the college’s museum galleries, where for the past 10 years she coordinated the annual exhibition “Art of Motion Picture Costume Design,” featuring the most intriguing costume designs of the year. Just a few weeks ago, Murray had completed plans for the museum’s 10th anniversary exhibition, which will be open to the public on Feb. 18, 2002.
Those who worked closely with Murray say she understood the synergy between Los Angeles’ fashion and entertainment industries.
“She had the ability to identify fine design talent,” said FIDM vice president Barbara Bundy, who worked with Murray at the school for 24 years. “She also had the ability to gauge which movies would be nominated in the best costume category in the Academy Awards.”
As director and curator for FIDM’s museum galleries, Murray worked with the major film studios to have costumes from their movies loaned to the college for her exhibit, which would be held prior to when costume design Oscar nominees were announced. This year’s exhibit will include costumes from “The Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “The Affair of the Necklace,” “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” to name a few.
Murray also served as founding member and chairman of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Costume Council, and in 1989 she became a published author with her book “Changing Styles in Fashion,” a textbook and pictorial of fashion styles and icons over the decades.
In the 1950s she created the concept of in-store boutiques, opening the first one at the May Co. on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, according to a biographer who discussed her achievements in 1986 during the inception of LACMA’s “The Maggie Pexton Research and Curatorial Endowment.”
Murray is survived by two nephews, Michael and Patrick Pexton, grandnephew Joseph Graeme Pexton and grandniece Kelly Ann Pexton.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Maggie Pexton Murray Scholarship Fund at FIDM, 919 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90015. —Claudia Figueroa
