Ralph & Russo dressed Meghan for her engagement — then the pandemic cancelled every gala

Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo, Australians working out of London, built the rarest thing in fashion: in 2014 their house became the first British designer in nearly a century to be accredited as an official member of Paris haute couture by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. The business ran on the economy that status creates — red-carpet gowns, private couture clients, bridal — with boutiques in London, New York, Doha, Dubai and Monaco. In 2017, Meghan Markle wore their design in her official engagement photographs.

Couture is an events business, and in 2020 the events stopped. Galas were cancelled, weddings postponed, red carpets went dark; the private clients who pay five and six figures for a single garment were not shopping. The house's costs — ateliers, craftspeople, prime-city retail — did not pause with the calendar. In March 2021 Ralph & Russo was placed into administration, the company citing the devastation of the global retail economy by the pandemic.

The name survived, which is more than most administrations manage: in July 2021 it was bought out of administration by Retail Ecommerce Ventures, the US group that specialises in resurrecting dead brands online. The couture operation as it had existed — the ateliers, the working reality of the accreditation — did not transfer. The case is not that the founders misread fashion; it is that a business model with one revenue condition — that rich people attend things — had no plan for the year they did not.