Collapse of fashion label The Vampire's Wife investigated

Times

14 hours ago

The fallout from the closure of a cult fashion brand worn by royalty and celebrities remains unresolved as investigations continue into events leading to its collapse.
The Vampire's Wife was launched by Susie Bick, the former supermodel and wife of the musician Nick Cave. The brand's Falconetti dress was worn by the Princess of Wales for her official portrait alongside Prince William, completed by Jamie Coreth in 2022.
Other customers included the actors Jennifer Aniston and Rachel Weisz, the model Kate Moss, and singers Florence Welch and Kylie Minogue. Harry Styles, the singer, and Brad Pitt, the actor, have the label's custom-made tote bags.
The company went into administration in July last year after receiving a tax bill from HM Revenue & Customs, which was owed more than £700,000. The administrator's accounts showed that although the company had £852,000 in a bank account, its total estimated financial deficiency was £1.18 million.Cave has already settled an outstanding bill from a financing company recorded as being owed £600,000 after it called in his personal guarantee.
The winding up of a company normally ends within 12 months, but the administrators have been given more time after saying they are investigating the brand's affairs prior to its collapse.
The administrators stated in their most recent report: 'Initial assessment of the company's records suggested that there could be a matter that might lead to recoveries for the insolvent estate and thus further investigations were considered necessary.'
Bick, 58, launched the label in 2014 and named it after an unfinished novel written by her husband.Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics, made a significant investment in the company in 2019.
Bick's son, Arthur, died aged 15 in a fall from a cliff near Brighton after taking LSD in 2015. Cave's album, Ghosteen, was written in the aftermath.
Bick announced the closure of the fashion label in an Instagram post in May last year, writing: 'I wish to thank my extended family at The Vampire's Wife who helped me create such beautiful things.'
Cave, 67, later wrote on social media: 'The Vampire's Wife was not just a clothing company, it was a pure and necessary articulation of the grief that Susie felt in the wake of the death of our son, Arthur.
'The Vampire's Wife was Susie's Ghosteen … Susie's dresses were an attempt to give her grief form by throwing fabric over an invisible boy, as an act of love, an act of mercy, and an act of contrition…
'The clothes Susie created were objects of devotion, sacred things that will live on regardless of the brand's fortunes.'