Eugenia Ahlas, a longtime style advisor at Neiman Marcus department store in Union Square and well-known figure in the San Francisco fashion world has died. Ahlas was 71. The cause of death was stage four cancer.
A petite and soft-spoken woman, Ahlas nevertheless made a big impression with her elegant but always forward-looking style. Throughout her 40-plus years in retail Ahlas was known as an expert on the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house. Her ensembles at galas and opening nights in San Francisco were always understated but frequently nodded to Saint Laurent’s style signatures like jeweled embellishments, Maltese crosses and touches of dramatic textiles.
Before her 25 years at Neiman Marcus Ahlas worked at the legendary I. Magnin department store in Union Square, where she was known as “Miss Eugenia” and was in charge of the store’s standalone YSL boutique. When Magnin’s closed in 1993 Ahlas moved with the store’s YSL license to Neiman Marcus, taking her many clients with her. Her association with the French label was so well-known in San Francisco’s style scene that a 1999 profile of Ahlas in the online publication Fashionlines called her “The Goddess of YSL,” taken from a nickname a French executive gave her at a fashion week party.
“Eugenia’s dressing rooms were like Ali Baba’s cave,” said Christine Suppes, a friend and longtime client. “She picked the most glamorous, glittering clothes from the best collections. And there was this gracious, fearless woman at the center of all of it. She just got it.”
“Eugenia Ahlas was a rarity,” said Ken Downing, the former senior vice president and fashion director at Neiman Marcus. “In the world of fashion, populated with big personalities and often bigger egos, Eugenia was a supremely kind, gentle and enlightened soul: A quiet storm of exquisite taste, profound knowledge, with a marked loyalty that ran deeper than the Grand Canyon to those she kept near.”
Ahlas’ attraction to the work of Saint Laurent went beyond aesthetic appreciation. The designer’s collections in the 1960s and ’70s were lauded for both their beauty and liberated wearability which helped popularize pants for women among other changes. Jill D’Alessandro, the curator in charge of costume and textile arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, interviewed Ahlas in the fall of 2020 and said that she spoke at length about her belief that Saint Laurent empowered women through his designs.
“She understood the impact of clothes that went beyond the personal,” said D’Alessandro. “She believed that fashion had the ability to impact society and that it brought beauty into daily life. She said to me that, ‘Fashion is an art form: it evolves, we want it to move forward. I think that Yves Saint Laurent defined the parameters for how we do move forward.’ ”
Ahlas was born Eugenia Mousalimas on Dec. 13, 1949, in Oakland to Andrew Mousalimas and Mary Mousalimas (nee Kumarelas) the second of five children. She was raised with a strong Greek Orthodox faith which became a lifelong devotion. Ahlas’ younger sister Paula Gassoumis said that Ahlas’ love of the rich colors, jewels and bold robes and vestments that were visual signatures of the church directly translated into her love of clothes.
“Her love of art history and Byzantine art were absolutely her segue into fashion,” said Gassoumis. “There was a correlation between the Orthodox Church and her personal style that she carried with her.”
In 1979 Ahlas and her mother were key in the campaign to save the first Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption (Dormition) in Oakland, allowing it to be moved to its current location at 928 Castro Street ahead of the 980 Freeway project. The church is now a designated Oakland Landmark, a California Historical Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ahlas attended U.C. Berkeley and initially studied political theory. Upset by student unrest on the campus in the 1960s, Ahlas left to live in France for a year, returning to Berkeley to study art history with an emphasis on Byzantine and early Christian art and Romanesque architecture. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1972 she was accepted to law school but chose to pursue a career in fashion, taking a job at I. Magnin in women’s hosiery. The store was then considered the top of the line in Bay Area retail, known for its elegant Art Deco Timothy Pflueger architecture and Lalique crystal fixtures as its high end fashion salons. Downing worked with Ahlas at the store in the 1980s and described it as “more like a movie set than a grand specialty store, it was a world unto itself.”
In 1975 she married restaurateur George Ahlas, her husband of 45 years. After taking a period away from I. Magnin following the births of her sons Harry and Andrew, she returned to work at the store and was put in charge of the YSL boutique.
“Not a lot of men were supportive of that at the time, he very much was,” said Gassoumis. “It allowed her be as successful as she was and go on trips to Paris for the collections for five days, seven days. He would go with her and be supportive, it would not have worked for other couples. They were progressive, ahead of their time.”
In 10 years at I. Magnin, Ahlas counted many noted and prolific Bay Area fashion clients in her book. The women were drawn to her taste, her access to the best pieces from the YSL showroom and her discretion — key for any stylist or sales person.
“She was of the old school,” said Sally Debenham. “And most importantly, she didn’t press you.”
Often, Ahlas’ advice went beyond just purchases.
“When I’d buy something someone else bought she’d say ‘Now, someone else bought this who is going where you’re going,’ so we wouldn’t both wear it,” said Carole McNeil, a 20-year client. “But she never gave names, I never knew her clients unless they were in another dressing room and we’d see each other in the hall. She was so confidential, that’s very important.”
Suppes began shopping with Ahlas in the late 1980s at I. Magnin when she was searching for an ensemble to wear to the White House, where her husband, computer education pioneer Patrick Suppes, would be awarded the National Medal of Science in 1990. Their shared love of clothes and art led to a close friendship.
“I knew I wanted to wear Yves Saint Laurent for that occasion,” said Suppes. “I loved Yves Saint Laurent, that’s what she loved, it was a great reason to become friends.”
Suppes followed Ahlas to Neiman Marcus as a client in the 1990s. In 2017 Suppes gifted over 500 ensembles to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, many of which she purchased via Ahlas. Suppes was the founder and editor of Fashionlines as well as the author of the 1999 profile of Ahlas.
“Many intellectual women are drawn to YSL,” Ahlas said in the profile. “This woman does not want to hide her light under a bushel. Women today are becoming more resourceful and more accomplished and these qualities translate into appropriate fashion.”
Ahlas was also a swimmer and devoted ballet fan. As an adult she studied the art form in Berkeley and San Francisco and was also a regular attendee at San Francisco Ballet performances. Ahlas danced until the last years of her life — in addition to gifting family members pieces from her extensive fashion collection in her last months, she also gave them pairs of her beloved pointe shoes.
One of Ahlas’ final projects was putting together a power point presentation for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco ahead of a future show celebrating the museums’ permanent fashion collection. In her interview with curator D’Alessandro, Ahlas summed up what she had learned about how women dressed in the Bay Area.
“She absolutely believed that women were different here than in New York or another city,” said D’Alessandro. “She said the differences were ‘first the climate, we do not get that really hot weather in San Francisco. Also, I believe our client was the most savvy. We are artistic in San Francisco, the women are more independent, better educated and women here want to wear their clothes to impact society.’ ”
Ahlas is survived by her husband, George, sons Harry (Victoria) and Andrew Ahlas, her granddaughters, Anna and Valerie, her sister Paula (Dean) Gassoumis and brothers Sotiros Mousalimas, James (Diane) Mousalimas, her brother-in-law Lambro (Helen) Ahlas and many nephews and nieces. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, funeral services were private. In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates memorial contributions to the Eugenia Ahlas Memorial Scholarship Fund or to the Ascension Greek Orthodox Cathedral General Fund, c/o Ascension Cathedral, 4700 Lincoln Ave, Oakland, CA 94602.
Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com