Joan Weinstein introduced Chicago to designers such as Giorgio Armani and Sonia Rykiel at her chic and influential Oak Street boutique, Ultimo.

Ms. Weinstein, 74, died of heart failure on Sunday, Nov. 15, in Florida, according to Ikram Goldman, a former sales associate at Ultimo who now owns the boutique Ikram on Rush Street.

With an unerring feel for fashion, Ms. Weinstein built Ultimo into an internationally known destination for high fashion. When she retired in 1999, she oversaw nine stores in Chicago, Dallas and California that included boutiques under the Giorgio Armani, Sonia Rykiel and Jil Sander names.

"She had the most precise eye for detail, more than anyone I know," Goldman said. "She was the kind of person who did things on instinct, not on numbers or reality."

Ultimo was started as a high-end men's store by Ms. Weinstein's husband, Jerry, an experienced retailer who suggested she use the second floor of the building for women's clothing.

She had no experience in fashion other than an innate sense for what looked good. Jerry Weinstein died in the early 1970s, and she continued the business on her own.

Buying trips to New York and Europe gave her dibs on budding designers like Armani and cemented her reputation with the fashion elite.

"She was a person of incredible style. She had a wonderful taste level and a work ethic, 12-, 14-hour days," said John Jones, who ran the men's department at Ultimo for many years and is now a partner in George Greene men's clothing on Oak Street. "Nothing happened in that store that didn't pass her eye."

Ultimo did little advertising, and much of its notoriety came free, Jones said. "The press was fascinated by what was going on there," he said.

The former Joan Korp, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, was in real estate before joining her husband in fashion retail. In 1999, Ultimo was taken over by venture capitalists that Ms. Weinstein had brought in to expand the business.

She subsequently moved to Miami Beach and lived for a time in Buenos Aires, but she continued as a consultant to Goldman at Ikram.

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

Information on surviving relatives and services was not immediately available.

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