Joseph Ferdinand Corré (born 30 November 1967)[1] is a British activist and businessman, who co-founded Agent Provocateur in 1994.
Joseph Corré | |
---|---|
Born | Joseph Ferdinand Corré 30 November 1967 (age 56) Clapham, England |
Occupation | Businessman |
Years active | 1994–present |
Known for | Founder of Agent Provocateur |
Spouse | Serena Rees (divorced) |
Children | 1 |
Parent(s) | Malcolm McLaren (father) Dame Vivienne Westwood (mother) |
Early years
Corré was born in Clapham, south London, the son of British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, former manager of Sex Pistols.
Corré's surname, which was not adopted but given at birth, derives from his father's maternal grandmother, a Sephardic Jew from Portugal.[2] As a child, he wore his mother's designs and regards the Sex Pistols as his favourite band, despite a poor relationship with frontman/singer John Lydon.[2]
Agent Provocateur
Agent Provocateur was established in 1994 after Serena Rees, Corré's wife and co-founder, grew tired of seeing drab undergarments.[3] The couple opened a shop in which they originally sold other designers' pieces. Corré had no desire to design lingerie but, after not finding enough of the type they wished to sell, decided to create their own lingerie line. Since then, the company has expanded to 30 shops in 14 countries. [citation needed]
Rees left Corré for ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon in 2007, and in the same year the to-be divorced couple agreed to sell Agent Provocateur to private equity house 3i for £60m.[3]
Rejection of MBE
In June 2007, Corré was awarded the MBE for his services to the fashion industry in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. He rejected the award in protest at Prime Minister Tony Blair's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan which Corré said had caused suffering and at the erosion in civil rights in the UK during Blair's term.[4]
A Child of the Jago
In 2008 Corré founded the opening of the independent boutique "A Child of the Jago", named after the 19th century novel by Arthur Morrison. The venture was a partnership with British street-wear fashion entrepreneur Simon "Barnzley" Armitage, modelled on the retail outlets run by Corré's parents in the 1970s/80s.[5] Armitage left the business in 2013[6] and is no longer referenced in the company's history.[6]
Illamasqua
In 2010 Corré was recruited to "edgy" British cosmetics company Illamasqua as brand director by founder Julian Kynaston.[7] The company has an expanding chain of outlets in the UK and an international presence.[8]
On 24 August 2021, it was announced by the creative director of Illamaqsua, Pablo Rodriguez that a new tribute makeup line dedicated to the late singer Amy Winehouse will be released the following month.[9] The brand went onto say; "We’re celebrating Amy – a multi-platinum musician, who made imperfection a statement and inspired others to embrace their individuality."
Relationship with father
On McLaren's death in a Swiss medical centre from a rare form of cancer in April 2010, Corré said: "It was hard for me because he never wanted to do the emotional stuff that comes with being a parent. He ran away from it and I found that hard to take. We had a difficult relationship, but it was all right in the end. I went to Switzerland and we said what we had to say and we made our peace. I'm really glad I did that. It was such a release for both of us".[10]
Corré organised his father's funeral, at which McLaren was buried in a coffin sprayed with the slogan "Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die" (the title of one of his shops). The ceremony was attended by celebrities including Bob Geldof and Tracey Emin, and accompanied by a public procession to punk songs, including the Sid Vicious version of "My Way".[11] In 2012 probate was granted to Young Kim, McLaren's girlfriend during the last 16 years of his life, by McLaren's will, which Corré had contested because he was excluded from it.[12]
Ownership of father's domain name
Corré is registered as the administrative officer of malcolmmclaren.com.[13] In 2012 he bought the domain name from Paul August Nordstrom of Singapore for $750; August had worked for McLaren and in 1997 registered the domain to himself without McLaren's knowledge.[14] August, who said in 2013 he could "no longer recall specifically why he placed his own name as registrant",[14] had previously refused to pass the domain to the Malcolm McLaren Estate.[15]
Politics
Prior to the 2015 general election, he was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.[16] Together with his mother, he has publicly campaigned for the release of WikiLeaks publisher and journalist Julian Assange.[17]
2016 protest
In November 2016 in a staged protest to encourage use of renewable energy, Corré and Vivienne Westwood burned an estimated £6,000,000 worth of his punk rock memorabilia archive on a barge on the River Thames. When asked about the incident by The Sunday Telegraph, "Did this feel like burning a Picasso?", Corré replied "I don’t know what burning a Picasso feels like," adding, "but I thought that was great. Punk rock is not important. Punk has become another marketing tool to sell you something you don’t need".[18]
Musician Henry Rollins wrote in response to the incident, "Corré and Westwood might think they have taught everyone a lesson in what punk’s all about, but all they did was show off their massive egos and how much they’ve lost the plot. Maybe it was something else, too. Perhaps it was an emotional response to the fact that McLaren cut Corré out of his will. It doesn’t matter now. It’s yesterday’s garbage. Ooh, how punk."[19]
References
- ^ Web.researcha.com[dead link]
- ^ a b "Joe Corré and Serena Rees: Sex and the City". The Independent. London. 29 July 2002. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ a b Attwood, Karen (16 November 2007). "Agent Provocateur sold to private equity firm 3i for £60m". The Independent. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Lingerie firm founder rejects MBE". BBC. 20 June 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Haj-Najafi, Daryoush (6 August 2008). "Now Window Shopping | Child of the Jago". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Simon Barnzley Armitage". LinkedIn. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ Anna Chesters. "A brief history of Illamasqua | Fashion". theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ "Illamasqua grows North American presence". Cosmeticsbusiness.com. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ Coming September 2021: Illamasqua x Amy Winehouse, 24 August 2021, retrieved 24 August 2021
- ^ "Malcolm McLaren, my revolutionary, chaotic, brilliant, messed-up father | Music | The Observer". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ Thisislondon.co.uk[dead link]
- ^ "Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren cuts son out of will". London: Telegraph. 14 April 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ "Malcolm McLaren R.I.P." Whois.domaintools.com. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ a b "Registrar and Disputed Domain Name". Domains.adrforum.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ Staff (15 May 2013). "Waltz darling! Malcolm McLaren's .com is a posthumous UDRP drama". DomainGang. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ Elgot, Jessica (24 April 2015). "Celebrities sign statement of support for Caroline Lucas – but not the Greens". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE interview: Dame Vivienne Westwood & Joe Corré in defence of Julian Assange". The Shortlisted. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Leitch, Luke (28 November 2016). "Anarchy in the U.K.: Vivienne Westwood's Son Joe Corré Burns $6 Million of His Punk Archive in London". Vogue.
- ^ "Henry Rollins: Burning Punk-Rock Artifacts Is Not Punk Rock". LA Weekly. 8 December 2016.