Agent Provocateur (lingerie)

Agent Provocateur is a lingerie brand based in the United Kingdom. The company has stores in 13 countries across the globe including cities such as London, New York, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. The first shop was opened on London's Broadwick Street in the Soho district in 1994.

History

Agent Provocateur was founded by Joseph Corré and Serena Rees. Corré is the son of British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols' ex-manager, Malcolm McLaren. In June 2007, Corré was awarded the MBE for his services to the fashion industry in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. However, he controversially rejected the honour in protest of outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair's actions regarding Iraq and Civil Liberties.

The shop originally bought plain styles from smaller sources and enhanced it creating a very unique style of individualism which mirrors that of McLaren and Westwood with their own shop, SEX.^{[citation needed]}

The company is known for producing controversial adverts, such as those released in December 2001 featuring pop singer Kylie Minogue. The advert, which was shown only in cinemas, pushed the envelope on sexual innuendo in advertising media and demonstrated the power of internet based viral perfume marketing.^[2]

Lingerie by Agent Provocateur has become popular with celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera, and Carmen Electra^[3], and the company often features high profile celebrities to promote its fashion campaigns. In previous years these have included Kylie Minogue (2001) and for the second time Kate Moss in 2008 (she previously appeared in ads in 2006).^{[citation needed]} "Agent Provocateur", the line's first perfume, was launched in 2000.^{[citation needed]} Hollywood actress Maggie Gyllenhaal took over for supermodel Kate Moss as the new face for the line in 2007.^[4]

Literary allusions

Agent Provocateur is mentioned in the book Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years when Pandora Braithwaite, the Labour MP for Ashby-de-la-Zouch and also the love of Adrian's life confesses during an interview that she buys her underwear from Agent Provocateur in Soho. It is also frequently named in Bridget Jones' Diary and its sequel as a place where Bridget and her friends Shazzer and Jude buy lingerie, including the infamous lilac bra trimmed in fur which snags on Bridget's foot on her trip up the aisle during Jude's wedding.