By midday last Friday, a large queue had formed in Mayfair, London, as shoppers lined up for one last shot at getting their hands on one of the Vampire’s Wife’s signature and highly coveted Falconetti dresses, once called “the dress of the decade” by Vogue.
Earlier in the week, the London-based brand, founded in 2014 by the former model Susie Cave and whose designs were worn by everyone from Kate, Princess of Wales, to Kate Moss, announced it was shutting down, ending its tenure with a three-day “goodbye sale”.
“Despite a period of positive growth and sales, the upheaval in the wholesale market has had dramatic implications for the brand,” read a statement. Its closure was preceded by the collapse in March of one of the Vampire’s Wife’s biggest stockists, the online luxury fashion retailer Matchesfashion.
Founded by Ruth and Tom Chapman in 1987, Matches originally existed as a single bricks-and-mortar store in the London suburb of Wimbledon. It later expanded to 14 stores, introducing luxury international brands including Prada to the UK capital alongside championing emerging homegrown designers. In 2006 its e-commerce site launched, and in 2017 the Chapmans, who held a majority stake, received about £400m after selling Matchesfashion to private equity investors in a deal valuing the business at £800m.
Now its demise has set off seismic waves in the fashion industry. “Fashion is an ecosystem – there is always a chain reaction,” said Olya Kuryshchuk, the founder and editor in chief of 1 Granary, a fashion education platform and creative network. Another fashion insider claimed that half of the independent brands previously championed by the online giant would not make this month’s payroll.
When Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group announced its £52m acquisition of Matches late last year, its chief executive officer (and Ashley’s son-in-law) Michael Murray said he was confident that the group would “unlock synergies and drive profitable growth for Matches”. Less than three months later, in a move that blindsided staff and suppliers alike, the group called in administrators from Teneo. In April, Frasers Group bought back the intellectual property but not the stock. Few have escaped the site’s implosion, with everyone from CEOs to cleaners affected.
This month, another Matches-stocked London-based designer, Roksanda Ilinčić, announced she had sold her namesake label, Roksanda, to The Brand Group (TBG), with “recent volatile market conditions” given as the reason.