Company behind gender-fluid clothing line Les Girls Les Boys goes bust

The company behind gender fluid clothing brand Les Girls Les Boys is going bust with estimated debts of £3.6million.

Founded by former Agent Provocateur lingerie boss Serena Rees, the trendy brand’s controlling company Aya Design Group Ltd has been put into voluntary liquidation by sole director Rees, according to Companies House records.

By far the biggest creditor is 54-year-old Rees – the former daughter-in-law of fashion doyen Vivienne Westwood – who ploughed £3.1million into setting up and propping up the brand.

Les Girls Les Boys sells ranges of ‘underwear meets streetwear’ clothing, often interchangeable to suit people with a ‘cross cultural mindset’ and ‘fluid sexual identities’.

The company behind gender fluid clothing brand Les Girls Les Boys is going bust with estimated debts of £3.6million. A model is pictured

Les Girls Les Boys sells ranges of ‘underwear meets streetwear’ clothing, often interchangeable to suit people with a ‘cross cultural mindset’ and ‘fluid sexual identities’. A model is pictured

An insider who once worked on a contract for the firm told FEMAIL: ‘They did very well during lockdown when people were stuck at home as their main products are sweats and pyjamas.

‘From this success, Serena wanted to turn them into a larger brand and started to add new lines until they became too diverse with far too much stock, such as swimsuits when nobody could go on holiday.’

Clothing is no longer available for sale on the website lesgirlslesboys.com which now just features a front page screengrab image of models wearing the brand’s designs.

Anyone who clicks through is greeted by a message, addressed to ‘Dear LGLB Friends’, saying: ‘We are no longer trading on this site’.

Anyone who clicks through is greeted by a message, addressed to ‘Dear LGLB Friends’, saying: ‘We are no longer trading on this site’.

Founded by former Agent Provocateur lingerie boss Serena Rees, the trendy brand’s controlling company Aya Design Group Ltd has been put into voluntary liquidation by sole director Rees, according to Companies House records (pictured)

The message asks customers to call a customer services telephone number for ‘returns, exchanges and enquiries in tracking existing orders’.

The brand’s social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram are still operating, and posting pictures of product lines

Its Instagram page says: ‘Resolutely democratic and self assured, we celebrate the fluidity of love and friendship, cross cultural mindsets and diverse identities’.

Rees was aged just 26 when she and her ex-husband Joseph Corré – the son of Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols guru Malcolm McLaren – set up lingerie brand Agent Provocateur in 1994.

The couple originally opened a shop in Soho before starting to design their own up-market ranges of lingerie, selling in 13 different countries and more than 30 stores, helped by advertising campaigns fronted by Kate Moss and Kylie Minogue

The brand’s social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram are still operating, and posting pictures of product lines (a model is pictured)

Rees, the adopted daughter of Cambridge-educated Indian parents, shocked the fashion world when she left Corré in 2007 for punk legend Paul Simonon, the former Clash bassist.

She accepted an MBE in the same year for services to the fashion industry although Corré refused to accept one, saying it was because he regarded the then prime minister Tony Blair as ‘morally corrupt’.

Rees and Corré sold Agent Provocateur to private equity house 3i for a reported £60million in 2007 as part of their divorce settlement.

She launched no frills brand Les Boys Les Girls in 2017, describing it partly as a reaction against ‘over-sexualised’ and ‘over perfect’ imagery of other brands.

By far the biggest creditor is 54-year-old Rees – the former daughter-in-law of fashion doyen Vivienne Westwood – who ploughed £3.1million into setting up and propping up the brand. Rees was aged just 26 when she and her ex-husband Joseph Corré – the son of Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols guru Malcolm McLaren – set up lingerie brand Agent Provocateur in 1994. They are pictured together in 2000

Rees said in an interview with Forbes at the time: ‘People need to see that being yourself is far sexier than having false eyelashes and big pouty lips and your boobs shoved up right underneath your chin and having a six pack and big beefy muscles and no hair on your body.’

She added: ‘People’s sexual preferences are very varied and you can’t account for everybody and you just have to let people be how they are.

‘I’m still saying celebrate yourself — but be in charge of who you are, be down with who you are. And it’s up to you how you portray that.’

Les Girls Les Boys launched its latest spring and summer collection to critical acclaim earlier this year when it was described as ‘a wardrobe attuned for today’.

Around 80 per cent of its fabrics were said to be made from natural or recycled materials such as bamboo or wood chip.

Vivienne Westwood with her Son Joseph Corre, wife Serena Rees and their daughter Cora at the Wedding Reception for Joseph Corre and Serena Rees on September 10, 1999

Rees appoint liquidators to take over her firm Aya Design Group on May 3, according to documents filed at Companies House.

A statement of affairs filed the same day, listed creditors and what they were owed, and revealed the firm was £3,625,574 in the red.

The document giving the company’s financial position on April 13 states that it only has assets of £75,913 following payments owed to preferential creditors.

But it still owes £3,701,487 to non-preferential creditors including £3,165,254 owed to Rees herself, £3,208 owed to banks and £11,709 owed to HMRC

Another £501,929 is owed to ‘trade and expense creditors’ including a fashion firm in Hong Kong owed £25,538.

The firm also owes £26,946 to Westminster City Council in business rates and £49,572 to the Crown Estate.

Fashion bible Vogue revealed in 2019 that Rees had an 18th century five-storey terrace house not far from Oxford Circus and a purpose built holiday home in Majorca with spectacular views over the Mediterranean.

Guests at her joint 50th birthday at her Majorca home included Kate Moss, Liv Tyler, stylist Katy England and actor Joséphine de La Baume.

The party reportedly featured performances by Simonon, Damon Albarn, Bobby Gillespie and Bob Geldof.

Les Girls Les Boys has been approached for comment