ELLEVoiceELLE.COM/UK September 2O19 105Photography: Darren Gerrish, courtesy of The Vampire’s Wife, Polly Borland/Gett y Images, WENN, Oliver Holms, Dominique Issermann, Tristan Kane, Gett y Images.
“FASHIONisA
TRANSFORMATIVE
THING.
I KNOWthat
FROMWHEN
IwasAMODEL.
THERE’SPOWER
in THERE”THE EVOLUTION
AW19 sees The
Dress reincarnated
in new prints
and fabricsICONIC SHAPE
A demure length,
frilled sleeves and
lean silhouette
suits all body typesskirts and bags – it’s ultimately The Dress that has inspired countless
imitations, for which she’s become most famous.
Maybe that’s because of the role the dress has played in her life.
If you’ve followed Susie’s family story, one that has captured national
interest in recent years, you’ll know that she suffered crippling loss
when her 15 -year-old son Arthur tragically fell to his death off a cliff
in Brighton. An inquest later revealed he had experimented with LSD
for the first time. ‘We moved [to Brighton] because I wanted my kids to
have a quieter, normal life, ‘she explains. During the months afterwards,
Susie retreated from the public eye (while her husband Nick processed
his grief with devastating candour through the filming of his documentary
One More Time With Feeling) and, for her, fashion became something
akin to a life raft. The dress became medicine; a balm for the pain.
‘My son had this terrible accident, and then...
Sorry.‘ She stops herself, voice tightening as she tries to
breathe. ‘Getting a bit emotional. Not going to cry,’
she adds, wiping away tears. As a mum of two, with
post-birth hormones still in upheaval, so am I. ‘Sorry.
It’s so hard to not talk about that because I feel like it’s
really weird if I don’t mention it. It’s so much a part of
the story, because for me to sur vive that, I had to work.
I’m fine. It’s a very thin veneer over... But that’s what
designing has given me. It’s given me something else
I can do, and that takes me away from the pain I felt
and I feel. It’s sort of this incredible thing that’s growing
in me, out of the grief. And without that, I don’t know
what would have happened to me,’ she says.
And here is where the dress takes on qualities that go beyond
the sartorial, as she describes how work played just as much a part in
pulling her out of despair as her tight family network, which includes
her husband Nick, son Earl and close friend Bella Freud. ‘Obviously,
I had to sur vive for my son Earl. I didn’t want to fall apart. I knew I had
to keep it together for him. That was the thing. He actually keeps me
together, and so does Nick. Having them in my life, they’re my healers.
So I would say it’s probably, you know, grief and art, and therapy, and
ar t t herapy. Being creati ve when you’re grieving is incredibl y power f ul.’
On that note, it seems quite poetic that Susie plans to grow her
brand by turning The Vampire’s Wife, which she named after an
unreleased novel written by Nick, into an immersive world. ‘That’s
what I saw it as when I first began. When I started The Vampire’s Wife,
I had a whole list of categories I wanted to go into. The Vampire’s Dog.
The Vampire’s House, for interiors. The Vampire’s Bride. Some of them
are in development, but it’s about taking the time to develop each thing
really well. It was never meant to just be about the clothes,’ she says,
before adding that the business side of The Vampire’s Wife takes up
‘99% of my time, whereas before it was 6O% designing, 4O% business’.
Susie has launched a fine jewellery collection, and will unveil a bridal
offering next year. ‘And I’d love to do make-up and perfume,’ she adds.
With her co-founder and business partner Alex Adamson, Susie
leads a team that is mainly made up of seamstresses from Brighton.
‘I work with an amazing pattern cutter who is a costume maker in theatre.
I like to work with costume people because they have the historical
references. They know, for example, the Victorian sleeves.’ And she’ll
open a new head office later this year, her company growing in tandem
with an increasing sense of peace. ‘Am I happier now? Yeah. [Fashion]
brings me joy. I t reall y does. From somet hing I never imagined pos sible.’
And with that our time together is up. She’ll be leaving town to join
Nick on tour. ‘I just look at them, Nick and my son, and I can be happy and
excited for the future.’ Our eyes now dry, we hug, part ways and carry on.