The Dress Of The Decade Has Hit The High Street – British Vogue

The Vampires Wife Falconetti dress fan club register reads like an A-Z of Hollywood elite. A galaxy of stars has fallen for the charms of brand founder Susie Caves sweet, ruffle-trimmed dresses that ooze retro glamour.

Kate Moss, an early admirer of her fellow 90s catwalk queens work, describes Caves frilly-hemmed frocks as Little House on the Prairie dresses gone luxe. Florence Welch, who wears the old-fashioned designs on and off-stage says, They make you look like youre practising witchcraft in a very romantic cult. Princess Beatrice, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Aniston have all emulated Caves gothic heroine-meets-Victorian lady sensibility in the Falconetti. And, circa 2018, there was not a red carpet that didnt witness its ethereal sisters the Festival, the Cinderella and the Belle swishing past the cameras. The Vampires Wifes unassumingly sexy dresses looked good on everyone. We all wanted in.

Now, thanks to a collaboration with Swedish high-street giant H&M, The Vampires Wife dresses are available to the masses. It seems to me like an act of magic, Cave tells British Vogue of taking her signature street sweepers into the mainstream just in time for Halloween. Inspired by the dark tales of the medieval town of Lewes, where 17 Protestant martyrs were famously burned in the 16th-century, this shadowy past informed the moody palette and Victoriana aesthetic of the dresses. Caves signature feminine silhouette is realised in bewitching black lace, rich velvet and iridescent silver embroidery that also brings to mind the Ballets Russes one of Caves other passions. Styled with fishnets and stacked talisman jewellery designed by her husband, the formidable musician Nick Cave each piece is full of memory and dark history promises Susie.

To ensure high-street customers receive the same quality and care that goes into The Vampires Wife dresses, which cost upwards of 1,000, Cave worked very closely with H&Ms designers albeit via Zoom. The team took great pains to find the very essence of what The Vampires Wife is about, and then realised my dreams to my exact specifications, asserts Cave, who was thrilled with the prototypes. To design a dress at The Vampires Wife and get it through to the finish line is extremely difficult, miraculous really, as we are a small company. H&M is extraordinarily powerful in that respect. The retailer even introduced Cave to new sustainability processes to broaden the indie labels green outlook.

The iconography on the jewellery, which Cave describes as little visual treasures that mean so much to her and Nick, adds to the personal feel of the collection. As Ruth Chapman of Matchesfashion.com, which has been stocking The Vampires Wife since 2015, once said, Susie has effected that very difficult thing of making you feel as if [her designs] are one-offs, like shes made something just for you. The passion that goes into The Vampires Wife Cave describes her home studio like Warhols Factory, a hub of creative activity ensures the H&M edit has this originality at its core.

During a year that has seen midriff-flossing join the fashion lexicon, its reassuring to see a polite dress quietly reign supreme throughout the decade. The Vampires Wife x H&M is a high-street collaboration worth its salt.

Shop The Vampires Wife x H&M collection in select stores and on Hm.com from 22 October.

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The Dress Of The Decade Has Hit The High Street - British Vogue