California Apparel News

Herbert Fink, one of the founding fathers of Rodeo Drive’s designer and high-end retail scene, died Feb. 18 at his home in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air neighborhood. He was 93.

Fink was a Los Angeles native and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. His father owned fashion stores. Fink later ran a line of 12 stores called Country Club Fashions. But he burst onto retail prominence in his mid 40s. After a trip to St. Tropez, France, he was inspired by the casual but stylish looks he saw on many of the young women in the iconic beach town. He resolved to take some of those looks to the Los Angeles area.

In 1969 he opened boutique Theodore on Rodeo Drive when the world-famous fashion retail district was still an unassuming neighborhood retail street. It reportedly was the address of hardware stores and gas stations, his daughter Leslie Le Tellier told California Apparel News in 2005. Le Tellier worked as a buyer for the stores. Theodore’s merchandise mix included blue jeans and avant-garde styles as well as designer looks.

Theodore helped shape the sartorial tastes of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. It championed fashion houses such as Missoni and Versace before they were well-known to Los Angeles’ fashion people and long before those brands ran their own Rodeo Drive boutiques. (Missoni closed its Rodeo Drive boutique in 2012.)

Fink helped push his retail street onto the worldwide stage in 1972 when he co-founded the Rodeo Drive Committee. The merchant group burnished the image of the street and made it a favorite with celebrities and the stylish.

At its height, he ran a fleet of around nine Theodore stores. The nameplate officially took a bow on the pop-culture stage in 2000 when comedian and writer Steve Martin mentioned Theodore in his novella Shopgirl.

Theodore was the last independent boutique on the street dominated by flagships owned by world-famous fashion houses. Fink moved his boutique to Beverly Hills’ Camden Drive in 2008, blaming astronomical rents for his departure from Rodeo. Fink never wanted to retire, but he officially stopped working when he closed Theodore in 2015, his granddaughter Alexandra Le Tellier said.

Fink carved a reputation as a bon vivant who loved partying with friends and dining at fashionable restaurants. He also was known as someone who would tell colorful and highly amusing anecdotes, according to many publications that came to interview him throughout his career.

He married a former Miss Las Vegas, Norma Brandt. They were married for 68 years and were partners in love, life and shared the same retail vision, Alexandra said. “She worked alongside him every step of the way,” she said. “She helped him build out his first store. … She never encouraged him to play it safe. Their life was theirs to live and they rode it out like an adventure.”

A private funeral was held on Feb. 23 at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife, Norma; his daughters Leslie, Tracy Fink and Lisa Davis; and four grandchildren. All his daughters worked at his stores. Tracy Fink opened a Theodore boutique in Sun Valley, Idaho, but she independently owns it, and it is currently in business.