L'Wren Scott

Biography

Laura "Luann" Bambrough (April 28, 1964 – March 17, 2014), known professionally as L'Wren Scott, was an American model, fashion designer, and stylist. Scott started her career as a model in Paris before moving to California and styling movie stars such as Madonna and Julia Roberts. In 2006, she launched the first of her fashion collections, characterised by sumptuous femininity combined with unconventional touches, aimed at establishing a well-defined silhouette. She issued regular tips on etiquette, known as "L'Wrenisms", and extended her range into shoes, handbags, glasses, makeup and perfume. In 2013, she collaborated with Banana Republic on a line of affordable ready-to-wear holiday items. Scott's longest relationship was with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, whom she met in Paris around 2001 and dated until her death. In 2014, following a period of severe depression, Scott was found dead in her home, from a suicide by hanging.

== Early life and education == Scott was named Laura Bambrough by her Mormon adoptive parents, Ivan and Lula Bambrough, who raised her in Roy, Utah, with two siblings, Jan and Randall, also adoptees. Laura was soon nicknamed "Luann". Known for her tall frame, she had already reached 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) in height by age 12, and eventually grew to 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m). Because of her height, she had to sew her own clothes. She learned clothing construction and fabric quality starting at age 12. She graduated from Roy High School in 1982.

== Career == L'Wren Scott's career moved from model, stylist, to fashion designer. There are two versions of how she got her start. The first has her being spotted at age 16 by photographer Bruce Weber when he came to Utah on a photo shoot. He advised her to go to Paris. It is said that a year later she flew to Europe on a one-way ticket, after telling her parents she was going to New York. According to the other version, Scott moved to Los Angeles one and a half years after graduating from high school, where she was spotted by a scout with agency ties in Paris and began calling herself "L'Wren". Working with Paris-based agencies, Glamour, and Marilyn Gauthier, she went on to work for Thierry Mugler, Chanel, and Helmut Newton, and modeled for photographers such as Guy Bourdin, David Bailey, and Jean-Paul Goude. Her first commercial success was as the legs on a clock for Pretty Polly hosiery ads, with photographs by Bailey.

=== Stylist === Scott moved to California in the early 1990s and established herself as a stylist, initially in collaboration with photographer Herb Ritts, and later with Helmut Newton, Karl Lagerfeld and Mario Sorrenti. One of her early assignments was an ad campaign for Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds, eventually the world's top-selling celebrity fragrance. In 2009, she contributed designs for Madonna to wear in her photo shoot with model Jesus Luz for W Magazine. In 2011, Scott styled actress Julia Roberts for a W Magazine shoot, alongside Tom Hanks. She designed costumes for such films as Diabolique (1996 remake), Ocean's Thirteen, Eyes Wide Shut, and Shine a Light, a documentary by Martin Scorsese about The Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger, with whom she had been romantically linked since 2001.

== Designer ==

Scott told Vogue in 2009, "I trusted my instincts and stuck to what I believed in." She designed clothing, makeup, perfume, handbags, shoes, and eyeglasses.

=== Silhouette ===

"I like a very sexy silhouette, and I like to feel like when you put something on, you zip yourself into it, and you're secure in there", Scott said. Net-A-Porter wrote that her designs have a "seductive, old-world feel: super-feminine silhouettes; rigorous cuts; nipped-in waists; pencil skirts, high-collared blouses; elegant, long-sleeved dresses." Scott was well known for her attention to detail. She was a hands-on designer, sourcing, often cutting patterns, sewing, and fitting many of the clothes herself.