The sudden demise of the fashion label The Vampire’s Wife this month drove a stake through the heart of a cultural fairytale. The label’s combination of witchy creative flair, celebrity and retail luxury had caught the imagination of a miserable decade. It was founded in 2014 by the model turned designer Susie Cave and named after a novel abandoned by her husband, the musician Nick Cave.
Its ruffled frocks took only four years to become the stuff of royalty, on the Hollywood red carpet or at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (where three guests wore them). In 2020, they were accessorised for the Covid era with bespoke face masks; they also hit the high street in recycled silver nylon in a deal with H&M, selling out in 24 hours. Vogue made one design, the Falconetti, its “dress of the decade”, and a shimmering emerald green Falconetti was immortalised in paint in the first official portrait of the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
