Joan Weinstein, the Queen of Fashion on Oak Street, recently passed away on Sunday, Nov. 15, at the age of 74.  Weinstein will be remembered for introducing Chicago to some of the most profound high-end fashion designers.  Within Weinstein’s boutique were the fashions of Giorgio Armani, Sonia Rykiel, and Jil Sander. 

The boutique, Ultimo, first opened in 1969 as a high-end men’s store by Ms. Weinstein’s husband, Jerry.  Although Ms. Weinstein had no previous experience with fashion, her husband suggested she use the second floor of the building to sell women’s clothing.   She always had an innate sense of what styles looked good. 

In the early 1970′s Mr. Weinstein died at the age of 46.  After her husband’s death Ms. Weinstein took the business on herself and eventually expanded the Ultimo boutique into the cities of San Francisco and Dallas.  She retired in 1999, after 30 years of running the successful business.

“It was time to move on.  I was tired of the day to day retailing business.   It’s seven days a week if you want to be successful, and we wanted to be successful.  We were in it for 30 years.  That’s a long time.  Now, I’m much happier,” Ms. Weinstein said.

Ms. Weinstein never did much to attract business to her store.  She believed most of her business simply came from word-of-mouth.  Ultimo remained well-known to the world of fashion because of Ms. Weinstein’s long involvement with the business.  Her trips to New York and Europe “gave her dibs on budding designers like Armani and cemented her reputation with the fashion elite,” according to Chicago Breaking News. 

“It helped that we went to Europe to buy before just about anybody.  We learned this business when European ready-to-wear was just emerging.  The Europeans knew our names and respected our business.  We had the jump on others,” Ms. Weinstein said. 

After selling the business in 1999, she moved to Miami Beach, but continued to serve as a consultant for IKRAM, “a high fashion Chicago designer boutique opened by a former salesperson (Ikram Goldman) from Ultimo,” according to Chicago Now. 

“She was magical.  She brought a sense of empowerment to women.  The effect is in every women that knew her,” Goldman said. 

Joan Weinstein is an inspiration to those who dream of being successful in the fashion world, but who aren’t sure where to begin.  Weinstein proves that by working hard and having a keen eye for style and what looks good, you can go far in life.  If you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can achieve what you have always dreamed of and the end results are proven to be rewarding. 

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