ALEXANDRA SHULMAN explains the enduring appeal of The Falconetti dress

Very, very occasionally a dress comes along that is exceptionally long-lasting and transcends the usual celebrity desire to wear something that has never been seen in public before.

One such dress is The Falconetti, by Susie Cave – the designer wife of rock star Nick Cave – also known as The Vampire’s Wife.

To demonstrate this, it was there, out and about again over the weekend, worn by actress Rachel Weisz on a publicity tour for her new series, Dead Ringers. Both she and the dress looked gorgeous as always.

The pretty, floral, pale metallic, silk-satin fabric was perfect for the bright light of New York’s spring, though since its launch in 2017 the dress has appeared in corduroy, velvet, chiffon, and sequins on actresses, royalty, musicians, and, more importantly, also a large number of ‘real women’.

In general, a high-profile dress like this has a very clear sell-by date in terms of fashion. Its appeal can last for a season, possibly two, but then it transfers to the fashion world, where it hangs around for years until it becomes a cool vintage piece.

If an item is as exposed as The Falconetti, that spin of the carousel could take a decade. But this £1,595 dress and its sister design The Cinderella (a longer version with a deeper tiered hem for £850) have bucked the trend. They are still worn by women who can appear in any dress they want, by any designer in the world.

So what’s with this dress? What makes it so attractive that the Princess of Wales has worn it twice? Both times she chose the shimmering emerald green version – for a trip to Dublin in 2020 and for her and William’s first official joint portrait as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. (She also wore a similar pink dress from The Vampire’s Wife during their royal visit to Belize.)

How has it won over so many different personalities like model Alexa Chung, singer Florence Welch, Princess Beatrice and actresses Keira Knightley, Jennifer Aniston and even Tilda Swinton, whose wardrobe tends to be much more eclectic and unpredictable.

All have gleefully gathered in front of the cameras in The Vampire’s Wife, a small independent British brand that certainly doesn’t have the PR budget to buy such massive product placement.

No, it’s the dress itself that women love. It achieves the tricky combination of being understated and sexy at the same time.

Although the cut is high-necked (no unreliable plunging neckline to be seen), unlike many of the primitive prairie styles that became popular around the time the Falconetti first appeared, it enhances the shape of the wearer, skimming over the hips with a focus on a slightly high waist. Although it flatters most women, the shape cannot be said to work well for those with large breasts, but there are few dresses that are suitable for everyone.

Given the range of fabulous fabrics it comes in, the dress can be worn on the red carpet, for dinner with friends, and even for the most serious of occasions. Just look at Carrie Johnson’s rented black floral version worn to greet the late Queen at a G7 reception in 2021.

The three-quarter sleeves cover all upper arm problems, while the gently sloping shoulder shape gives the wearer dignified severity, as does the fitted bodice. (It’s still available to rent from By Rotation for £121.)

This is a dress that shows that you are not afraid to be noticed. No one is left hanging on the sidelines in it, though there’s nothing clingy or overtly sexual about it — unlike the thigh-slit, side-bust dresses seen on the red carpet these days.

The Falconetti says the wearer is a mature player, and this is an essential part of its enduring appeal. While there are cute mini versions of the dress, the most popular longer cuts are loved by sophisticated women who don’t need to show off their bodies to attract attention.

While young actresses like Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jodie Comer love the brand, its core success is part of the welcome shift to celebrating older women. After all, no one would suggest that beautiful 53-year-old Rachel Weisz is invisible or not at the peak of her career.

And one reason for this is that it is led by 56-year-old designer Susie Cave, an endlessly intriguing, slightly mystical mother, designer and style muse. Like all the most successful female designers, she is the epitome of her work.

Coco Chanel designed the cardigan-style boucle jackets, extravagant costume jewelery and wide-leg trousers to suit her own lifestyle. Donna Karan always wore the slimming black drape that characterized most of her collections. And Diane von Furstenberg created the iconic wrap dress in response to her own life as a young working woman in the newly sexually liberated 1970s.

Susie Hardie-Bick (as she was then), a successful model in the late 1980s and 1990s, always had a reserved and cool look, with her ebony black hair, ivory skin and long Modigliani face.

The first time I ever saw her was in the early 1990s, with a collection of punky schoolgirl looks by fellow British designer Bella Freud. It was Freud, now 62, who introduced Susie to Nick Cave, and who is a cheerleader for The Vampire’s Wife label. Freud is godmother to the couple’s 22-year-old son, Earl.

Earl’s twin brother, Arthur, died when he was 15 from a fall from a south coast cliff near their home. It was after this unimaginable tragedy that Susie’s work took on the power it has today.

After a period of shattered withdrawal from the world, she returned with a need for work that propelled her vision for The Vampire’s Wife label. If you visit thevampireswife.com you’ll find a page of Susie’s inspirations and general musings – when buying the dress it’s clear you’re also getting into this woman’s personal style.

All this suggests that, even if The Falconetti gracefully fades into the distance, The Vampire’s Wife will continue to dress celebrities and non-celebrities well into the future for weddings, parties, christenings – well, just about anything, really.