Susie Cave: What You Need To Know About The Vampire’s Wife’s Founder – Grazia

So particular, so personal, is Susie Caves vision that she never expected her label The Vampires Wife to become the phenomenon it is today. But thats exactly what the brand she founded in 2016 has become.

Her aim for The Vampires Wife is simple: to make things beautiful by making beautiful things. Cave describes her aesthetic as subversive femininity. The appeal of The Vampires Wife is that it manages to be at once of another era and thoroughly modern, heart-flutteringly glamorous and yet practically effortless (these dresses make an impact but they are easy to wear, they do the hard work for you). Her designs are romantic, refined and rebellious all at once. And, as the name suggests, there is bite in this beauty - it is bewitching, gothic even.

Susie Cave and Sienna Miller, both wearing TVW Getty

Her distinctive dresses from the floor-sweeping gowns in metallic fil coupe and Liberty print cotton, to the wiggle-worthy shifts in saturated silks have quickly become a red-carpet staple. They are beloved by everyone from actresses (Sienna Miller, Cate Blanchett, Ruth Negga) and singers (Kylie Minogue, Florence Welch) to models (Kate Moss, Daisy Lowe) and royalty (Kate Middleton wore an emerald green Falconetti dress for a tour of Ireland. The dresses arguably won off-aisle fashion contest at Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding, too). And of course, the best poster girl for the brand is Cave herself.

Susie and Nick Cave at the 2018 Met Gala Getty

But who is she? Cave might have only relatively recently established herself as a designer, but she is a fashion veteran. After running away from boarding to school to New York in her teens, she was discovered by the photographer Stephen Meisel. An ethereal beauty with raven hair and porcelain skin, it seems inevitable that an illustrious career as a model followed; she worked with the likes of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood, appeared on the cover of a Roxy Music album and was shot by legendary photographers such as Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton and Nick Knight. This experience has given her an intimate understanding of how women want clothes to look and feel (born in Cheshire and raised in Africa, the young Susie Bick as she was known then would make and adjust clothes growing up).

Susie Cave, Florence Welch and Laura Bailey Getty

Today, she works and lives in Brighton with her husband, the musician Nick Cave, who shares the same poetic sensibility as his wife (the couple were introduced in 1997 backstage at a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds gig by mutual friend Bella Freud). Creatively there is clearly a synergy between them; The Vampires Wife takes its name from an abandoned book he started, which a collaboration with Annoushka included charms inspired by her favourite songs and lyrics. She is his muse; he is her biggest fan.

Now for her next move, Cave has teamed up with H&M for a collaboration out on 22nd October. You can consider it official confirmation that The Vampires Wife is indeed A Very Big Deal but we already knew that.

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The Vampire's Wife, Black Velvet and Gold Lace Mini Dress , 975

The Vampire's Wife, Silver Metallic Festival Dress, 1,765

The Vampire's Wife, The Forget Me Not Festival Dress, 595

The Vampire's Wife, Festival Crushed-Velvet Dress, 1,345, Matchesfashion.com

The Vampire's Wife, Falconetti Crushed-Velvet, 1200, Matchesfashion.com

The Vampire's Wife, Festival Ruffled Dress, 970, Matchesfashion.com

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Susie Cave: What You Need To Know About The Vampire's Wife's Founder - Grazia