PLT paid Molly-Mae Hague £400K a month as creative director — it lasted 22 months

In August 2021, Boohoo's PrettyLittleThing named Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague its creative director — fashion's highest-profile bet yet that an influencer's audience could be converted into creative leadership. According to the Daily Mail she was paid £400,000 a month, close to £5m a year. The appointment was controversial from the start: critics asked why a reality-television finalist should land one of the most influential creative roles in British fashion. Hague promised change — size ranges to 4-30, and public encouragement for her followers to consider dropping cosmetic fillers.

The business underneath the title was already wobbling. In the year to February 28, 2022 — Hague's first as creative director — PLT's revenue sat almost flat at £712.2m while pre-tax profit fell from £98.7m to £75.1m. Sales dropped 13.8 per cent across Europe outside the UK and 21.3 per cent in the rest of the world; return rates rose, and the company warned that the cost-of-living crisis might hit demand. In April 2023, PLT founder and chief executive Umar Kamani stepped down after twelve years.

Then, in June 2023, less than two years after the appointment, Hague announced in a YouTube video that she was stepping down to look after her daughter. There was 'no drama', she said — the chapter had 'naturally come to an end'. She returned to the lesser role of brand ambassador, continuing collections and edits; no successor creative director was named. The £5m-a-year experiment ended with the position itself quietly dissolved.