The rise (and fall) of the Princess of Wales’ go-to designer

It was born out of a grieving mother’s need to throw herself into work after a horrific tragedy devastated her – and quickly became the must-have dress for models, It Girls and society’s beauties.

But after becoming the go-to label for royals like Princess Beatrice and Kate Middleton and spawning a host of copycat dresses, it seems The Vampire’s Wife has had its day.

For the British brand, founded by model wife Suzie of rocker Nick Cave, has been issued with a liquidation petition by HMRC meaning the future of the must-have label is loved by A-listers and royalty is uncertain.

The brand’s success came from a deep personal tragedy, after their 15-year-old son, Arthur, passed away in July 2015.

He was found with fatal injuries at the bottom of Ovingdean Gap, a 20m high cliff near the family home in Brighton.

Arthur, it turned out, had taken the hallucinogenic drug LSD for the first time that day with a friend.

The pair got separated, leaving Arthur “completely disoriented” and unable to tell what was real and what wasn’t. He sent messages to friends asking, ‘Where am I? Where am I?’

In the minutes before his death, motorists watched in horror as he stumbled along the edge of the cliff, climbed over a safety fence and plunged into the abyss.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, but doctors said he suffered cerebral hemorrhages and catastrophic skull fractures.

The loss of her son left Susie utterly bereft.

In 2018 she told the Mail: ‘I struggle with certain things that have happened in my life and can be in a pretty dark place at times.

‘I get lost while designing. Time just flies by. It’s actually an absolute gift, because the worst has happened to me. I put all the positive energy I can into making clothes.’

The family waded through a “syrup of grief” (to use Nick’s eloquent expression), unable to comprehend the enormity of the loss.

“He was a smart, shiny, funny, complex kid and we loved him very much,” they said at the time.

Susie had started The Vampire’s Wife 12 months earlier, with boyfriend Alex Adamson, and was busy building a clientele.

It understandably fell by the wayside in the wake of her son’s death. “The week after Arthur died, I was in bed,” she explains. “I said, ‘Nick, I can’t do this. The vampire’s wife is over. Everything is over.” ‘

Unable to work, leave the house, or see anyone, Susie retreated. Photographs from Arthur’s inquest show her hiding her face behind a curtain of raven black hair, her shoulders shaking as she clings to Nick for support.

And then, three months later, a phone call came. “I got a call from Daisy Lowe – Pearl Lowe’s model daughter and a friend of the family – saying she needed a dress for an awards show and would I make her one?

So I dragged myself into the office to find the red cloth. And she wore it. And I saw it photographed. That was kind of a breakthrough. From then on I went to work every day.

“Having something physically demanding to do temporarily made me think of nothing else.”

Orders started pouring in from high-profile clients: model Alexa Chung; actress Elisabeth Moss; singer Florence Welch.

Styles – ranging from £970 velvet dresses to £1,595 glittering party dresses – started selling out. Little by little, Susie bonded back together.

“When Arthur died, I didn’t think I could move on,” she said. “When you lose a child, nothing can take the pain away, never. But I did realize that if I could focus on something outside of what had happened, if I could somehow separate myself from everything, if only for a few seconds, and start creating things in that moments of escapism, that that could be an important thing. .’

Born Susie Hardie-Bick, the daughter of an academic, she grew up between Africa and Cheshire.

Her grandmother taught her to use a sewing machine, a skill that served her well in boarding school in the 1970s, when she changed her friends’ jeans from flares to drainpipes.

At the age of 14, she ran away from school and flew to New York, where she caught the attention of fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

By the age of 16 she was modeling full-time and upon her return to England the following year, she became a muse to famed photographer David Bailey.

She was introduced to Nick, the Australian-born frontman of rock band Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, by Bella Freud, a mutual friend, who arranged for their paths to cross at a party at London’s Natural History Museum.

“He found me under the T-Rex,” Susie recalls.

They were married at a registry office in Richmond, South West London, followed by a blessing at a chapel in Surrey, in 1999.

As her husband’s career blossomed, Susie found herself invited to A-list parties — “I started designing clothes for myself because I couldn’t find anything I wanted to wear.”

The Vampire’s Wife – named after an unfinished novel by Nick’s – was the result, founded in 2014 in a small studio in Brighton, with clothes manufactured in Poland.

“Grief consumes everything,” she said recently. “But you have to learn to live again and try not to be a victim. Besides my family, my work has saved me.’

But after big names including Princess Kate, Hilary Duff and Rachel Weisz have starred in the designer’s gowns, it now faces liquidation after serving on the petition, with a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice this month.

According to Drapersthe petition relates to debts the brand accrued during the pandemic and follows a deferred tax payment earlier this year.

The Vampire’s Wife alleged that HMRC rejected her request for a Time to Pay scheme, to slowly pay back the tax debt in monthly installments.

A statement from the brand confirmed it was seeking a solution “pleasant for all parties” and will continue to act for now.

The collection, called Vampire’s House, ranges from a £135 silk pouch to a £595 jewelery box.

The brand takes its name from an unfinished novel by Susie’s husband Nick Cave, and the clothes offer a wardrobe befitting such a title.

The Princess of Wales first stepped out in The Vampire’s Wife in 2021, when she donned a £1,595 emerald dress when she joined Prince William for an evening reception at Dublin’s Guinness Storehouse.

The ensemble closely resembled the green dress by the same designer that Princess Beatrice wore to Ellie Goulding’s wedding last fall.

Mum-of-one Beatrice wore a £1,695 silk blend ‘The Veneration’ layered lamé dress from The Vampire’s Wife to the singer’s wedding at York Minster Cathedral.

Princess Kate, 41, also opted for a pink metallic dress from the brand on her 2021 royal tour of the Caribbean with the Prince of Wales, at a reception held by the governor of Belize.

As more and more celebrities began stepping into the brand’s dresses, including Rachel Weisz, Hilary Duff and Meena Harris, niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, it developed a cult following among A-Listers.

Celebrity stylist Rochelle White previously told FEMAIL that the emerald green dress sparked the popularity of The Vampire’s Wife.

She explained, “I think the dress is popular with celebrities because it’s easy to wear but has maximum impact.

“It has a disruptive look and quality in its design.”

She went on to say that many adopted the dress for its versatility, saying, “It is suitable for many events and everyday wear and can be worn in different seasons.”

Meanwhile, the stylist explained that the styling could change the dress’s formality, revealing, “Depending on the style, color and texture, it can be seen as understated, outrageous, seductive and directional, with each dress making a unique statement.”

“Its design gives it such a universal appeal that is classic, trendy and chic.”

According to Drapers, The Vampire’s Wife expects revenue to reach £6.6m in 2023, up 38% from 2021 when it posted a loss of £2.1m.

The brand confirmed that the court hearing is scheduled for July 12.