Wendy Jill Freedman, founder of the beloved West Hollywood vintage boutique Polkadots and Moonbeams with clients like Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore and Lily Collins, has died. She was 66.
Freedman died Friday in Santa Monica after a long battle with breast cancer.
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For more than four decades, Freedman built Polkadots and Moonbeams into a fashion institution for customers and costume designers alike, supplying pieces from productions including Emily in Paris, Modern Family, This Is Us and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Born on June 26, 1959, in Chicago, Freedman’s sense of fashion was heavily influenced by her mother and grandmother, who were lovers of couture and vintage finds.
“The dichotomy between my couture mother and my treasure hunting grandmother, helped me realize the disparity in the market for wearable vintage fashion in West Hollywood,” Freedman said in a past interview.
Freedman attended Evanston Township High in Illinois, before graduating from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. She opened her boutique in her early twenties with a $3,000 loan from her grandmother.
Freedman first opened her boutique in 1982 on 3rd St. in West Hollywood. Drawn to the neighborhood’s small business and community, Freedman saw a market for vintage fashion to blossom. Since the store’s opening, Freedman’s commitment to the success of her business transformed the boutique into an industry staple.
“She took a chance on herself and created something extraordinary,” Freedman’s son, Milo Borsuk, wrote in a statement on her boutique’s website. “More than 40 years later, while nearly every storefront around her changed, Polkadots & Moonbeams remained the store of 3rd St.”
“For more than 45 years, she made every person who walked through the doors of Polkadots & Moonbeams feel like the center of the universe,” Milo added. “She had this extraordinary gift for seeing people — not just how they looked, but how they wanted to feel.”
Freedman is survived by her sons, Milo and Dave Borsuk; her life partner, Vincent DiNunzi; her brother, Craig Freedman; and her stepsiblings, Dave Cohen, Julie Cohen and Dan Cohen.
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