It has been announced today that designer Roland Mouret - the person, has bought the rights to use Roland Mouret - the brand name, for his designs. WHAT? Okay, here’s the story. Roland went into business with his original backers, Sharai and Andre Meyers, back in 2000. In doing so, he signed away the rights to his name – and everything else; in effect, he was just an employee of the Roland Mouret company, who until now, owned 100% of the company Roland Mouret Ltd

After five hugely successful years, including his creation of his "It" dress, the Galaxy in 2004, he split with his business partners - who kept his name, but lost the designer himself. Once released from his contract, Roland designed a range for GAP, before teaming up with Victoria Beckham and the Spice Girls svengali/manager – Simon Fuller who wanted to expand from entertainment into fashion.

Mouret said 'when Simon and I started together, we made a plan. I wanted to get my name back in a natural way, and I didn’t want to get into any legal battles. Simon has allowed me to develop a business while ensuring I always had enough space and resources to follow my intuition and establish the company.'

The designer with Veebie and Simon Fuller

Roland was back on the Paris catwalks in no time, with a label called RM by Roland Mouret. These collections have done so well that the partners have decided to step it up a notch or three with the re-instatement of the name AND a new headquarters in fancy-schmancy Carlos Square in London’s Mayfair.  Ooh la la. The plans are to accommodate two floors of retail space as well as a design studio and head office in the sexy six-storey townhouse, which Roland plans to 'fill with a mix of Seventies and early-Eighties French furniture and with 18th-century pieces'.

Immediate plans? Mouret will continue to show in Paris, although the business, from the base in London 'will be moving rapidly from now on. We are in expansion mode, and we’ve started to analyze other markets with an eye to opening stand-alone retail stores. We want each one — just like this town house — to reflect the personality of the neighborhood,' he said. He’s also said to be developing eyewear, in particular, Mouret said ‘he’s working on a single “iconic” pair of sunglasses’ Yaa-hooo!

Designers becoming separated from their names is quite commonplace. Neither Maison Martin Margiela, nor the Helmut Lang or Jil Sander brands are designed by their namesakes, despite the originators still working full-time in fashion, and Jil Sander is still a designer - for Uniqlo. Brit designer Amanda Wakeley has also seen her fashion house leave and come back to her control in the last few years.

- Naomi Attwood