14 DAY TRIAL // Esteemed fashion designer L’Wren Scott, also known for her high-profile and longtime romance with Rolling Stone rocker Mick Jagger, has died. She was found in her Manhattan apartment by her assistant just hours ago and, by the time paramedics arrived, she was beyond saving, the NY Daily News reports.
Scott seems to have hanged herself with a scarf from an L-shaped doorknob. The aforementioned publication says she was fully clothed and had not left a note explaining her gesture. Moreover, on Monday, she texted her PA to come by the apartment, almost as if she’d planned to be discovered.
“We confirm the tragic death of L’Wren Scott. At this devastating time for Ms. Scott’s family and friends, we request that their privacy be respected,” a spokesperson for the designer has confirmed for the media.
An autopsy will be taking place this week, to determine the exact cause of death. Police have said that the apparent cause of death is suicide and that they do not suspect foul play for the time being.
As for the reasons that might have pushed Scott to such an extreme gesture, various reports claim that the financial troubles she’d been struggling with for the past 5 years had finally taken their toll on her, and she had realized there was no saving to the fashion empire she’d worked so hard to build.
Scott’s business had been leaking money since 2009 and things got progressively worse. Insiders tell the NY Daily News that, while she could have asked for help from Mick Jagger, she was not the kind to admit defeat and turn to others to aid her in solving her own problems.
“While she appeared to be a runway success, Scott’s company, LS Fashion Limited, was $2.1 million [€1.5 million] in the red in 2009, according to financial records in the United Kingdom, where she sometimes lived with Jagger and where her company was incorporated. By 2010, the company was $3.06 million [€2.19 million] in debt — and by 2012, it was $5.89 million [€4.2 million] in the hole, records show,” the NY Daily News says.
Last month, Scott was supposed to showcase her latest line at the London Fashion Week, but she backed out at the last minute citing “production reasons” for it. It is believed that this is when the bleak reality of her financial circumstances started to sink in.
“Everyone thought she had a perfect life, but when you would chat to her it was clear her life was far from it. She told me, ‘I think I worry too much.’ She had a high-profile business with lots of buzz and lots of press but you didn’t always see the money flowing in,” a friend of the late designer tells the publication.
While the investigation is still underway, celebrities who had gotten to know Scott personally or who had simply the joy of wearing her creations, as well as fellow designers are speaking out on what a terrible loss her passing is.
Mick Jagger is said to be “completely shocked and devastated.”