Christopher McDonnell built a respected British label around refined daywear, luxurious natural fabrics, and French-influenced tailoring, earning comparisons to Yves Saint Laurent and recognition from Saks Fifth Avenue and the Louvre's Musée des Arts Décoratifs. His business expanded from the original Marrian-McDonnell partnership into a flagship operation at 45 South Molton Street, with manufacturing also carried out in Hong Kong. In 1974, however, the company was bought by the financial conglomerate Slater Walker, tying the designer's future to a corporate empire that soon ran into severe trouble. By 1976, Slater Walker was suffering financial difficulties and had been rescued by the Bank of England. The group then abruptly withdrew from its involvement with McDonnell's label, leaving the designer without the financial infrastructure on which his operation depended. McDonnell later recalled that he was 'completely broke.' The collapse also created a fight over ownership of his own identity: the brand name had passed into the control of Haw Par Corporation, part of a Singapore-based corporate group, forcing McDonnell to negotiate to regain the right to trade under his own name. He attempted to rebuild through a collaboration with coatmaker Andre Peters, two years working abroad, and a 1980 co-branded autumn collection with couturier Mattli, but the episode exposed how vulnerable independent designers were when banks and conglomerates acquired their labels and intellectual property.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Bank Collapse That Left Christopher McDonnell Completely Broke
Christopher McDonnell Ltd / Slater Walker / 1970s
Christopher McDonnell built a respected British label around refined daywear, luxurious natural fabrics, and French-influenced tailoring, earning comparisons to Yves Saint Laurent and recognition from Saks Fifth Avenue and the Louvre's Musée des Arts Décoratifs. His business expanded from the original Marrian-McDonnell partnership into a flagship operation at 45 South Molton Street, with manufacturing also carried out in Hong Kong. In 1974, however, the company was bought by the financial conglomerate Slater Walker, tying the designer's future to a corporate empire that soon ran into severe trouble. By 1976, Slater Walker was suffering financial difficulties and had been rescued by the Bank of England. The group then abruptly withdrew from its involvement with McDonnell's label, leaving the designer without the financial infrastructure on which his operation depended. McDonnell later recalled that he was 'completely broke.' The collapse also created a fight over ownership of his own identity: the brand name had passed into the control of Haw Par Corporation, part of a Singapore-based corporate group, forcing McDonnell to negotiate to regain the right to trade under his own name. He attempted to rebuild through a collaboration with coatmaker Andre Peters, two years working abroad, and a 1980 co-branded autumn collection with couturier Mattli, but the episode exposed how vulnerable independent designers were when banks and conglomerates acquired their labels and intellectual property.
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