On March 17 2014, the American fashion designer, costume designer, and former model L’Wren Scott passed away after committing suicide at age 49. Born on April 28, 1964, Scott was named Luann Bambrough by her adoptive Mormon parents, Ivan and Lula Bambrough, and was raised in Roy, Utah. She was first spotted at a Calvin Klein photo shoot and left Utah after graduating high school to pursue her modeling career in Paris, France where she went on to work for Chanel among other designers and modeled for renowned photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, etc.
Scott then established herself as a stylist in the early 1990s when she moved to California. She became an extremely influential celebrity stylist after her ad campaign with Elizabeth Taylor’s fragrance White Diamonds, the eventually world’s top-selling celebrity fragrance. Scott styled celebrities such as Madonna, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, all for W Magazine. As a costume designer, Scott designed the costumes for films such as “Diabolique”, “Ocean’s Thirteen”, “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Shine a Light”, a documentary about The Rolling Stones. In 2001, Scott became romantically involved with Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, who she was still linked to until her death this month.
In 2006, Scott launched her first high-end fashion collection as a clothing designer, “Little Black Dress”. This collection featured an assortment of black dresses including her now famous “Headmistress” dress that was worn by Madonna. Celebrities that have worn her dresses to the Academy Awards are Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Amy Adams. Amongst other celebrities to wear Scott’s designs are Michelle Obama, Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock. In 2010 Scott collaborated with the makeup company Lancôme for the holiday season featuring a lipstick in her signature Bordeaux color. In 2011 Scott launched her first collection of handbags named “Lula”, after her mother. The bags were sold at Barneys, New York. Just this past year, Scott collaborated with the retail store Banana Republic for an exclusive holiday collection for women, including apparel and accessories.
The tragic suicide occurred around 8:30 am March 17. Scott asked her assistant to come meet her at her $5.6 million apartment in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. When her assistant arrived around 10 am, she found Scott hanging from a scarf tied to a door handle, dead of suicide. This came as a complete shock to all of her family and friends, especially her partner, Jagger, who was on tour in Asia. The 70-year-old rock star then cancelled his tour to mourn the loss of his long time beloved girlfriend. There was not a suicide note left behind by Scott and the suicide is thought to be caused by a $6 million shortage of her company after Scott cancelled a London runway show in February for London Fashion Week. The loss of Scott is very devastating to the fashion world and her legacy will live on in history. Rest in Peace to L’Wren Scott.
