L’Wren Scott was found dead after hanging herself on a doorknob in her Manhattan apartment on Monday morning.
Scott was said to be distraught and ‘embarrassed’ over her failing business, as she owed nearly $6million to creditors, MailOnline can reveal.
The designer, 49, was found by her assistant, hanged on a doorknob by a scarf of her own design by her assistant. There was no immediate suspicion of foul play though the Medical Examiner has not yet released the formal report.
The shocking suicide comes after the striking stylist was forced to cancel her London Fashion Week show at the last minute in January, which she blamed on fabrics that arrived too late for samples to be sewn in time for the event.
And now we can reveal that the 6ft 3ins tall brunette – who had always refused financial help from Mick Jagger – was hemorraging cash.
The latest accounts for her business, filed in the UK in October 2013, show that the company, LS Fashion LTD, had a deficit of $5,899,548 (4,237,164 Euros), with the designer owing creditors $7.641 million (euros 5,488,125)
However, in recent years, her company’s debts had doubled year-on-year – a downward spiral that showed no sign of stopping. In 2009, the debt stood at $2,120,015.67, and by 2010 it had grown to $3,063,160.87
The issues surrounding her company, which was incorporated in July 2006, are the real reason she called off her show, a source said, as she could not even afford to put on the fashion show.
Records show that Scott’s apartment was bought for $5.6million in 2010 by a holding company called Scotland Management. A 2012 mortgage for $1.25million was paid off last year.
In October last year, it appeared as though L’Wren was trying to stem the financial chaos after she appointed her adopted brother, Randall Ivan Bambrough – who still lives in her homestate of Utah – as a director to her company.
Just weeks before she axed her London show, L’Wren – who usually showed at New York Fashion Week – had happily posted pictures of her holiday vacation at Jagger’s home on the island of Mustique.
L’Wren had collaborated with Banana Republic for her own spin-off collection and was feted at a star-studded bash at Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood in November, attended by stars including Mad Men Christiana Hendricks, who gushed: ‘I just love everything L’Wren does,” gushed Christina Hendricks. “It’s very strong, it’s incredibly flattering, ladylike and always very tasteful.’
A designer can get paid anything from $20,000 to a million for a collaboration with another label or major retailer. A fashion source told MailOnline that for her Banana Republic collection, Scott was probably paid something in the region of $250,000.
While L’Wren Scott lists three New York stockists on her website – Barneys New York, Jeffrey, and Saks Fifth Avenue – only Barneys still carries the line. Multiple store associates for both Jeffrey and Saks told MailOnline that the retailers no longer carry Ms Scott’s designs. They were unable to shed light on when her label had been dropped from their racks.
Upon visiting Barneys yesterday afternoon, MailOnline observed how the area surrounding Ms Scott’s garments on the retailer’s second floor was completely empty.
Barneys currently has three racks full of stock from Ms Scott’s collections – including her signature nipped-waist column dresses and her heavily-embellished cardigans.
A fashion source said: ‘L’Wren was in a lot of financial trouble. She was unable to pay her staff and her suppliers and it had been going on for a very long period of time.
‘She wanted so badly for things to be a success. Whereas she got her outfits on a number of high profile people, the clothes were not a commercial hit and didn’t fly off the shelves. It was a huge burden on her and she didn’t want to fail.
‘Everyone was very much left wondering why she didn’t ask Mick for help. But she didn’t. Things were left a long time and she spent the past few months struggling to pay the vast amount of her out goings. It was a tragic situation and she kept it from everyone.
‘Her staff expected the company to go under and her fabric suppliers and tailors were close to ending their working relationship. The bills just weren’t getting paid.’
A fashion source said: ‘L’Wren was in a lot of financial trouble. She was unable to pay her staff and her suppliers and it had been going on for a very long period of time.
‘She wanted so badly for things to be a success. Whereas she got her outfits on a number of high profile people, the clothes were not a commercial hit and didn’t fly off the shelves. It was a huge burden on her and she didn’t want to fail.
‘Her staff expected the company to go under and her fabric suppliers and tailors were close to ending their working relationship. The bills just weren’t getting paid.’
A source said L’Wren was ‘embarrassed’ by her financial failures.
She was found hanged to death in her apartment on the eighth floor of a luxury building in Chelsea where Nicole Kidman- one of her most famous fans- also has a flat. The building features a garage elevator which allows residents to drive their cars up to the floor of their apartment.
Police sources say that she texted her assistant at 8.30am saying ‘come by’, and less than two hours later that individual was the one who found her body, according to The New York Post.
Source: Daily Mail UK
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