Londoner’s Diary
Farewell to the Vampire’s Wife. Musician Nick Cave says his wife Susie is suffering grief after the collapse of her zeitgeisty fashion label. “She feels many things at the moment — sad, happy, angry, nostalgic, regretful and proud, but most importantly, she feels suddenly free,” Nick wrote on his blog. “The label’s end amounts to a kind of grief, but she is an extraordinarily resilient woman, sometimes shockingly so.
“The Vampire’s Wife was not just a clothing company, it was a pure and necessary articulation of the grief that Susie felt in the wake of the death of our son.” The couple’s son Arthur tragically died in 2015. “Just as I tried through music to create a place for Arthur to be, real or imagined, Susie’s dresses were an attempt to give her grief form by throwing fabric over an invisible boy, as an act of love,” Cave added.
“It is easy to see the situation as a tragedy, and of course it is sad for everyone who worked so hard to keep the brand afloat, but really, it is a miracle that The Vampire’s Wife ever existed at all.” The Vampire’s Wife created a signature dress that was dubbed the dress of the decade by Vogue and worn by the Princess of Wales. The company’s closure was considered a major blow to the British fashion industry.
It’s your bad: Kemi’s keeping all the mispronouncers at bay
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is getting increasingly ticked off by people mispronouncing her surname. Badenoch, her Scottish married name, should start with a “bade” sound but too many opt for a flat “bad”. Radio 4’s Mishal Husain was swiftly corrected by the Secretary of State when she made the mistake in an interview earlier this week. Now Badenoch’s advisers have taken to reminding hacks of the correct pronunciation with a helpful adage: “There ain’t no bad in Badenoch.” Since Badenoch is widely seen as a contender in any forthcoming Tory leadership contest, it’s a name we might all be hearing a lot more about in the coming months and years.
Cleo Watson joins wave of summer party cancellations
More summer plans ruined by the PM’s surprise election (called shortly after he had implied everyone could go on holiday). This time it’s bonkbuster author and former Boris Johnson aide Cleo Watson, who was supposed to be launching her latest raunchy Westminster-based novel, Cleavage, last night. Instead, she sent what she calls a “pleady email” to friends begging them to buy the book after the party was cancelled.
“It would be nice to reschedule, but a bit like the Conservative party after the general election, I don’t know who’ll be left! I don’t know how much of a party I could scramble together,” she told us. Is she worried about any backlash from parliamentarians who bear striking resemblance to characters in the book? “After the first book quite a lot of people did get in touch saying, ‘Is this character me?’ and the trick is to say if it’s an unflattering character, ‘Oh no, it’s not you’ but if it’s a very flattering character say, ‘Oh yes definitely you!’” And who’s Watson rooting for? “It’s fun to hope for the underdog,” she said.
Penny’s Portsmouth problem
Penny Mordaunt will squirm at the seven-way debate tonight when asked about the PM’s D-Day snub. The Commons leader and former Navy woman will be standing in for the PM, but she may be just as miffed at him as everyone else — not least because her Portsmouth constituency has more servicemen and women than most other seats.
Queensway’s coming up
Once a down-at-heel patch of Kensington, Queensway might soon be a celebrity hotspot thanks to the redevelopment of Whiteley’s shopping centre. It will reopen next year as luxury flats with a Six Senses hotel. We hear famous faces, including one from the world’s most famous rock band, have signed up for apartments, which start at £1.5 million.
