Kate’s favourite brand makes a comeback! The Vampire’s Wife was a go-to with THAT £1,595 dress before shutting… but now it’s making a return 

When The Vampire’s Wife ceased trading in 2024, it dealt a huge blow to the fashion landscape and to Susie Cave’s legion of fans, the Princess of Wales included.

Come 2026, though, and model and designer Cave, 59, has announced her return to the scene with the new and exclusive label, Susie Cave Weddings & Funerals.

‘Like my brand The Vampire’s Wife, which was subversive, funny and mischievous, its name is not literally a description of what it is,’ she told Vogue of her new venture’s unusual moniker.

Unlike her last brand, though, the label will not be widely available but will operate from an appointment-only Kensington shop where lucky customers will be able to browse black-and-white demi-couture.

The collection currently stands at 25 made-to-order pieces, all customisable with capes, trains, veils and embellishments.

The Vampire’s Wife, founded in 2014 by Nick Cave’s wife and Alex Adamson, ceased trading in 2024 after a decade amid the brand’s struggles to recover from the pandemic and repay an outstanding tax debt.

But for Susie, its demise wasn’t all bad: ‘I was relieved it was all over,’ she said, adding: ‘Past experiences have built a resilience and inner strength that leaves little room for ordinary apprehensions,’ she added.

Cave is no doubt touching on the tragic death of her son Arthur, 15, who died after falling from a cliff in Brighton. He was found with fatal injuries at the bottom of the Ovingdean Gap – a 60ft cliff near their family home in Brighton. 

After Arthur’s death, Susie told her husband ‘Everything is over’, believing she was unable to carry on with her brand after becoming bedridden with grief.

Losing her son left Susie utterly bereft. But it was in her fashion brand where she found solace.

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

‘I get lost when I’m designing. Time just flies by. It’s actually an absolute gift, because the worst thing happened to me. I channel any positive energy I can into creating clothes.’

The family found themselves wading through a ‘treacle of grief’ (to use Nick’s expression), unable to comprehend the enormity of the loss.

‘He was a bright, shiny, funny, complex boy and we loved him deeply,’ they said at the time. 

Understandably, the fashion brand fell by the wayside in the aftermath 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 face seeing anyone, Susie retreated. Photographs from Arthur’s inquest show her hiding her face behind a curtain of raven-black hair, shoulders shuddering as she clung to Nick for support. 

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

‘So I dragged myself into the office to find the red fabric. 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 to do which was physically demanding enabled me temporarily not to think of anything else.’

It was then orders started flooded in from high-profile clients: model Alexa Chung; actress Elisabeth Moss; singer Florence Welch.

Styles, ranging from £970 velvet dresses to £1,595 glittery party frocks, started selling out. Little by little, Susie stitched herself back together. 

‘When Arthur died, I didn’t think I could carry on,’ she said. ‘When you lose a child, nothing will take away the pain, not ever. 

‘But I did realise if I could focus on something outside of what had happened, that if I could separate myself somehow from it all, even for a few seconds, and start creating things in those moments of escapism, then that might be an important thing.’ 

Three guests wore Vampire’s Wife garments at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding, and the label is often spotted at red carpet events. 

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

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

Beatrice wore a £1,695 ‘The Veneration’ tiered silk-blend lamé dress by The Vampire’s Wife to the singer’s nuptials at York Minster Cathedral.

Princess Kate also opted for a metallic gown from the brand in pink during her royal tour of the Caribbean in 2021 with the Prince of Wales, during a reception held by the governor of Belize.

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

And soon, the dresses were being stocked at plush stores Selfridges and Harrods.

But like many business, the coronavirus pandemic would ultimately be its undoing.

The Vampire’s Wife was handed a ‘winding-up petition’, which would allow the courts to close the firm for failing to settle its outstanding debts.

The company’s debt was understood to have grown during the pandemic when shoppers saved cash and were less likely to splash out on sparkly dresses and going-out skirts.

The firm said the petition came ‘without prior warning’ and that HMRC had rejected requests to arrange a payment plan to repay the outstanding debt.

An HMRC spokesperson said: ‘We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we’ve exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers’ money.’

Companies House filings for the year to 31 December 2022 reported taxation and social security liabilities of £543,930 – up from £331,962 in the year prior and £43,106 in the year to 31 December 2020.

Susie wrote at the time: ‘Due to factors beyond our control, The Vampire’s Wife is closing its doors. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have supported us here at The Vampire’s Wife.

‘It has been a deep privilege to be a part of this magical thing – a project that quite literally saved my life. Perhaps, in the end, ten years is long enough. I don’t know. My husband, Nick, and I loved this company, and I will miss all the wonderful people who worked so hard to create such beautiful things.’