Susie Cave returns with Weddings and Funerals, a by-appointment atelier

Susie Cave is betting that the next formal uniform is less sparkle, more shadow. Her new by-appointment atelier, Weddings and Funerals, has landed in Kensington, West London with 25 silhouettes built for the two occasions fashion treats as sacrosanct: weddings and funerals. The mood is polished, ceremonial and deliberately controlled, which feels exactly right in a moment when flashy event dressing has started to look tired.

That pivot matters because Cave is not starting from zero. The Vampire’s Wife, founded in 2014, built a cult following on Gothic eventwear with just enough bite to feel modern, and enough romance to feel expensive. Kate Middleton, Princess Beatrice, Kylie Minogue, Alexa Chung, Sienna Miller and Lana Del Rey all wore it, helping turn the label into a shorthand for British occasion dressing with attitude. When the brand ceased trading with immediate effect in May 2024, after a decade in business, the closure exposed how badly the wholesale market had frayed around it.

Weddings and Funerals looks like Cave’s answer to that break. The new project is smaller, sharper and far more exclusive: the clothes are custom-tailored, can be personalized, and are available only by appointment through the Kensington Church Walk atelier, with bookings made online or by email. That setup changes the signal completely. This is no longer about chasing volume or hanging a dramatic dress on a rail and hoping it sells. It is about authority, privacy and fit, the old-money triad that makes formal dressing feel inherited rather than performed.

The collection still carries the DNA that made The Vampire’s Wife recognizable at a glance. Black and white embellished pieces, Gothic-inspired glamour and the kind of dark romance that reads as intentional rather than costume remain central. But the new format strips away the excess noise. The message is clear: for serious occasions, the strongest look is not the loudest one, it is the most controlled. Let the fabric carry the drama, keep the silhouette exact, and choose jewelry that reads as punctuation, not competition.

That is why Weddings and Funerals feels less like a comeback than a correction. Cave has taken the cult appeal of The Vampire’s Wife and recast it as a service for life’s most formal rites, where restraint, texture and a little darkness signal taste more effectively than overt occasionwear ever did.