Serena Rees
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(born 14 March 1968) is a British entrepreneur, founder, fashion designer, and public speaker. She founded
Agent Provocateur
An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, the ...
with her then husband
Joseph Corré
Joseph Ferdinand Corré (born 30 November 1967) is a British activist and businessman, who co-founded Agent Provocateur in 1994.
Early years
Corré was born in Clapham, south London, the son of British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood ...
in 1994 and Les Girls Les Boys in 2017.
Early life
Rees was adopted at an early age by Indian parents. She was working as a model in Chelsea, in 1992 when she met Joseph Corré, the son of
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
and
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...
.
Agent Provocateur
Rees decided to open a lingerie store that would be filled with colourful and fashion-forward lingerie. The store opened in 1994 on Broadwick Street,
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
as a retail shop. Eventually Rees and Corre began designing their own line of lingerie as well.
Agent Provocateur became a well known brand selling in 13 different countries and over 30 stores. Rees maintained a strict confidentiality policy which allowed celebrity clients to feel comfortable purchasing the products.
Rees made sure to cater to a celebrity clientele by enforcing a strict confidentiality policy. The brand often features celebrity models such as
Kate Moss
Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...
.
Rees and Corre sold Agent Provocateur to
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
house
3i for £60m, as part of their divorce settlement.
Les Girls Les Boys
Les Girls Les Boys is a men’s and women’s underwear, intimates and streetwear brand, founded by Serena Rees in May 2017.
Other business ventures
Rees then started Cocomaya, a bakery and chocolatier with several branches in London, where she resides with her daughter and partner Simonon.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Serena
Living people
British businesspeople
1968 births