Debts, royals, A-listers inside a fashion fail

Worn by everyone from Princess of Wales to Kylie, Susie Cave’s The Vampire’s Wife created the dress of the decade’. As it folds, Joe Bromley ooks at what went wrong for the fashion-set favourite

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AS most great Gothic tales do, the story of The VamWife-Susie Cave's pire's fashion brand that became a go-to for the rich, famous, royals and dress-renters thanks to its feminine gowns with macabre twists - yesterday ended in darkness.

"After 10 years as the creative director of The Vampire's Wife, it is time for me to say goodbye," wrote the former model and wife of rock star Nick Cave, on Instagram. A statement on Tuesday confirmed the company, which was founded in 2014 by Cave and friend Alex Adamson, would cease trading with immediate effect. The decision has shocked many.

From the outside, everything appeared to glitter. The rails of Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols today still shimmer with their remaining stock of Victoriana-esque, iridescent frocks featuring Cave's slender, pointed-shoulder silhouettes (and £1,000-plus price tags). Her investors were solid, notably including Jimmy Iovine, founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics, whose reported net worth is around $1 billion, alongside his wife, model Liberty Ross.

Longevity can be a struggle when a dress like the Falconetti becomes bigger than the brand itself

Nick Cave is also a stakeholder, and together they swooped in to help last June, when HMRC petitioned for the liquidation of the company due to unpaid debts. The company bit back with a statement claiming to have "blossomed out of lockdown, converting a loss of £2.1 million in 2021 to profit in 2022", and adding that "its revenue of £3.7 million in 2021 grew to £5.1 million in 2022 and is forecast to be £6.6 million in 2023".