Serena Rees

Agent Provocateur opened in 1994 on Broadwick Street in Soho, London, and the woman who decided it should exist was Serena Rees. Born in England on March 14, 1968, Rees co-founded the lingerie house with Joseph Corre and ran it with him until 2007, when the pair sold the business to private equity.

A model in Chelsea

Rees was working as a model in Chelsea in 1992 when she met Joseph Corre, the son of Vivienne Westwood. The idea she brought to the partnership was a lingerie shop full of color and fashion-forward pieces, a store rather than a label to begin with.

Broadwick Street, 1994

The first Agent Provocateur shop opened two years after they met. It began as a retailer, but Rees and Corre soon started designing their own line of lingerie, moving the business from buying to making.

Discretion as a selling point

Rees kept a strict confidentiality policy for famous customers. Celebrity clients could buy without the purchase ending up in the papers, and the shop's reputation as a private place to shop for provocative underwear was built partly on that rule. Rees was later appointed MBE.

From one shop to thirty

Under the founders the brand grew to more than 30 stores in 13 countries, a rare international run for a British lingerie label of its age.

The 3i sale, 2007

The partnership ended with the couple's divorce in 2007. As part of the settlement, the founders sold Agent Provocateur to the private equity firm 3i, which paid £60 million for 80 percent of the company. Rees left the business at that point.

Cocomaya and Les Girls Les Boys

Her next venture was outside fashion. Rees started Cocomaya, a bakery and chocolatier that grew to several branches in London. She returned to underwear in May 2017 with Les Girls Les Boys, a label of men's and women's underwear, intimates and streetwear. Where Agent Provocateur sold seduction to women, the new brand dressed both sexes and mixed underwear with streetwear, a sign of how far the market Rees helped open in 1994 had moved toward everyday comfort.

Last updated October 7, 2026