Roland Mouret places brand into administration

Roland Mouret has been placed into administration after the high-end label experienced trading difficulties during the pandemic.

The brand, which specialised in body con dresses and formalwear, has made 40 of its staff redundant and has closed its store at Carlos Place in London's Mayfair.

Despite having received backing from its landlord Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, who took a minority stake in the brand in June, Roland Mouret could not recover from plummeting sales during Covid when working from home and the cancelling of all social occasions led to demand drying up.

The brand recently launched an activewear line in an attempt to speak to new hybrid lifestyles in the wake of the pandemic but the move appear to come too late.

French designer Mouret, who is based in the UK, founded his brand in 1997 and shot to fame with his Galaxy dress which was worn by A-list starts and royalty alike. Mouret temporarily lost the use of his name after a fall out with his original backers but bounced back in 2010 with the support of Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.

Last available accounts show sales of £16m in 2019 but it is understood sales dropped by as much as 80% during the pandemic.

The company filed notice of its intention to appoint an administrator at the end of last month and had been seeking a new backer.