TORONTO -- Leading names in Canadian fashion expressed shock and sadness at the news of L'Wren Scott's death on Monday, remembering the late designer and longtime girlfriend of Mick Jagger as a woman of warmth, grace and glamour.
Scott was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on Monday morning, there was no note found and no sign of foul play, police said. Her death was being investigated as an apparent suicide.
"I just couldn't believe it. I don't think anybody could," longtime media and style maven Jeanne Beker said in an interview at Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion Week on Monday.
"Anybody that's really watched her from afar and certainly met her knew what a vibrant, incredibly creative talent that she was, and such a gracious woman and always so upbeat and confident. A great wit, great charm, great intelligence.
"She was one of those we thought had it all -- no question. Famous rock star boyfriend, the fast life -- maybe that's what did it. Who knows what problems people have?"
Beker, host of the Fashion Television Channel, said she had met Scott a couple of times "fleetingly" and was "always charmed by her aura."
"She just exuded that panache and certainly was one of the most stylish women on the scene."
Nicholas Mellamphy, vice-president and buying director at The Room and personal shopping at Hudson's Bay Co., said the retailer had been big supporters of Scott's collection in the last few years. In turn, she had been a big booster of The Room, the high-end space for designer wear at Hudson's Bay.
"I think that she was larger than life," said Mellamphy in an interview. "She was excited and exciting. She was super generous and super gracious and very, very kind."
Bernadette Morra, editor-in-chief of Fashion Magazine, recalled siting across from Scott at a dinner when the designer visited Toronto.
"She was so elegant, so lovely, and so poised and she just made such as striking impression on me as the epitome of grace and glamour," she said.
Morra also recalled some eye-catching accessories worn by the statuesque Scott: what appeared to be a couple of Art Deco diamond bracelets she estimated were $100,000 apiece.
"It sounds kind of ridiculous to bring up something like that. However, when you look at somebody who you think has it all... her beautiful apartment that we've seen in various magazines and her incredible jet-set lifestyle with Mick Jagger, I mean, these are things that everybody wants. And you wonder how can somebody who has so much do this. But then, you never really know what's going on behind the scenes."
With files from The Associated Press.
