Susie Cave's Second Act

The Vampire’s Wife founder on loss and creativity.

- Susie Lau

THE TRANSITION FROM MUSE AND MODEL to legitimate fashion designer can be a tricky path to navigate. More often than not, the resulting work can come across as hackneyed. Susie Cave is an extraordinary exception. An inspiration to the likes of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, and the wife of the musician Nick Cave, she has always met real sartorial needs in ingenious ways, whether by transforming her friends’ flared trousers into drainpipes at the tender age of 12 or dyeing her own clothes for test shoots when she was modelling. Her brand, The Vampire’s Wife (named after the title of an unpublished novel written by her husband), was born out of creative necessity. “Every time I went out with Nick, I never knew what to wear, or the things I wanted to wear were so expensive,” she recalls. “I thought, I’d love to make my own clothes so I won’t be spending all this money!”