Karen Millen25 Sep 2023 12:29
‘The tax bill led to her losing her £2.5 million family home, a six-bedroom Grade II-listed building set in five acres in Wateringbury, Kent, which had a swimming pool, lake, cinema and football pitch.
'We'd lived there for 20 years and I was given a year's grace — it was a big house to empty — so I was literally driving out of the gates when the receivers turned up to change the locks,' she recalls, shuddering at the memory.
'It was an awful time. My children lost their family home. My youngest, who had been two when we moved in, took it hardest.
'When I heard that Boohoo had bought the company, I was pretty devastated,' adds Karen. 'Mainly because it meant the stores would close and something we'd worked for 20-odd years to build would disappear from view.
'I feared it would be out of sight, out of mind.
'However, this resurgence has changed my mind. Maybe it is the perfect company to breathe life back into and return the label to where it used to be.'
As well as being a favourite of two of Britain's most high-profile women, actress and model Elizabeth Hurley has launched a curated collection for the brand's Icons section.
Jill Biden is also a big Karen Millen fan and our own former first lady, Carrie Johnson, rented a black square-necked coat dress by the label for the Queen's funeral.
'Karen Millen was always the go-to place for power dressing, clothes that could be worn for work and then glammed up, with jewellery and shoes, for a night out or a special occasion,' says Karen.
'We were one of the first big High Street clothing brands to launch in the 1980s, and it saddened me when the stores closed and it faded into the background for a while.
'It felt like my legacy was vanishing, so it's great to see people talking about — and wearing — it again.
'But it's amazing how many people think I'm still involved with the company after all this time, because it still bears my name.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12554495/Fashion-designer-Karen-Millen-reveals-pension-godsend.html
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