L'Wren Scott dead: An appreciation of a designer at the top of her game

L’Wren Scott at New York Fashion Week, 2012 (Reuters)

For the fashion industry, the death of L’Wren Scott today comes as a shock and a mystery.

A shock because it seems  Ms Scott died by her own hand, and a mystery because she was at the top of her game. Ms Scott had shown her own label for seven years to critical and commercial acclaim in Paris, New York and most recently London where she presented her winter 2013 and spring 2014 collections.

Ms Scott launched herself into fashion as a model in the 1980s. She began her styling career a decade later, working with photographers such as Herb Ritts and Helmut Newton. Based in California, she began styling celebrities away from photo-shoots, becoming one of the first in the band of celebrity stylists that now influence much of the industry.

She also designed costumes for film, notably for Diabolique, Ocean’s Thirteen and Eyes Wide Shut (Nicole Kidman was a styling client, and latterly has worn Ms Scott’s fashion designs). In 2001, while styling in LA, she also began dating Sir Mick Jagger.

Ms Scott’s shift to designer seemed natural. Her refined tailoring, embroidered evening gowns and a strict, even severe, dress she dubbed the “Headmistress,” are stocked internationally by high-level retailers including net-a-porter and Dover Street Market. The London Fashion Week show for Ms Scott’s latest collection – her final, for autumn/winter 2014 – was cancelled due to “delays in the production of key couture and show pieces,” according to her PR.

Update: Marc Jacobs, Alexandra Shulman Pay Tribute

L’Wren Scott was a designer, and a woman, constantly striving for perfection.