Paul Blum, who in May was named chief executive officer of Fred Segal, is making his first new hires.
Danielle de Marne was named vice president of merchandising, and Ray Chang was hired as creative director of digital. Both are based in Fred Segal’s New York headquarters and report to Blum.
De Marne, who will oversee buying and merchandising for Fred Segal, will work closely with the buying teams at the retailer’s stores at SLS Las Vegas and the Los Angeles International Airport, as well as the Tokyo flagship of Fred Segal Japan, which will open in 2015.
De Marne is also charged with cultivating relationships between Fred Segal and emerging designers, developing product and negotiating partnerships for the brand.
Design and media firm Sandow purchased the rights to the Los Angeles-based Fred Segal in 2012. According to the agreement, the Segal family retains ownership of the Beverly Hills and Santa Monica stores and licenses the name from Sandow. Dallas-based firm Gregory’s owns Fred Segal Feet on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
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De Marne was vice president of creative services at The Jones Group since January 2013. Prior to that, she was vice president and fashion director for contemporary and emerging brands at Jones, overseeing the image and styling of brands such as Brian Atwood, Rachel Roy, Rafé and Robert Rodriguez. De Marne also held creative positions at Theodora & Callum, Full Picture, Intermix and Scoop.
Chang will oversee Fred Segal’s digital and social platforms, including the direction and launch of fredsegal.com. He was creative director of juicycouture.com since 2011, responsible for the brand’s online platforms, marketing campaigns and social media. Prior to that, Chang was art director at Oscar de la Renta, where he was responsible for the design of look books, ad campaigns, marketing and oscardelarenta.com. Before that, Chang was senior art director for Gale Group and art director at Ann Taylor.