Frances Corey; Fashion Executive in L.A., N.Y.

Frances Corey, a Los Angeles-based fashion executive once named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 30 women in American industry, has died at her Beverly Hills home.

She was 91 when she died Thursday.

Her career ranged from the austere gowns of the Depression to the adventurous garb liberated women wear today.

Her first shop was in the annex of the Marshall Field store in Chicago in 1919 when she was a girl.

Subsequently, she became director of fashion and advertising at Bloomingdale’s in New York, moving to Los Angeles in 1943 to head the sales promotion and advertising department of May Co.

In 1953 she returned to New York as the first woman executive vice president of R.H. Macy’s and remained there until 1960 when Ms. Corey again came to California to take over the West Coast offices of Grey Advertising.

She also worked for Catalina Knitwear, Bullocks and as a consultant to NASA, where she sought to develop consumer applications from the space program.

In 1982 she was honored by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for her contributions. The luncheon was held in Los Angeles in a hall named for her.

A widow, she is survived by a daughter and granddaughter.