SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MAY 14: Designer Alice McCall thanks the audience following the Alice McCall show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Resort 20 Collections at Carriageworks on May 14, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by James Gourley/Getty Images)

A few years ago, while working at another fashion magazine, my colleague and I sat waiting for Alice McCall’s Australian fashion week show to start. What followed was more than we could have ever expected. A bounty of dainty baby-doll dresses, glorious pastel sixties ensembles and Broderie Anglaise so plentiful it made us want to cry. And, actually, my colleague did start to cry. Perhaps we were exhausted but as the rapturously applauded finale romantically danced to the nostalgic tune of Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog, we rose to our feet and she viscerally employed the moment.

It was as refreshing and intoxicating as fashion comes. Wholeheartedly true to its brand vision while being desperately desirable. After that show everyone wanted to be an Alice McCall girl. And by the time that summer collection dropped, every girl worth her embroidered, netty-overlay dress was wearing a piece. Christmas and NYE parties were rife with McCall femme followers as Aussie (and international) style ingenues made the label their sartorial heroine.

So, it’s no surprise that today, as Alice McCall announced her eponymous label had called in administrators, her heart was “heavy”. A Sydney-based insolvency firm has been assigned to work with the label’s current standing, and will have the task of deciding the level of editing. Whatever the outcome, stores will be closed and staff laid off. Having started the label some 16 years ago, McCall’s esteemed frockery is one that would be missed from the Australian fashion landscape.

A potential business casualty of COVID-19, McCall’s model has struggled since the beginning of the pandemic. She said in a statement today “Due to the unprecedented effects that COVID-19 has had on our economy, as well as some unsustainable bricks and mortar rental obligations, I have had to make a necessary decision to edit down my business, with the objective of building a more sustainable business model for the future.”

It’s hard to imagine this as an outcome from the darling of Sydney’s socialite style, one that has found copious numbers of fans across the country and, indeed, the whole world. However, as retail faces some of its toughest times, overarching brand loyalty and customer spend is as sporadic and fickle as it’s ever been.

One can only hope that by tying down the proverbial frills for the foreseeable future, it might just salvage McCall’s future as a continuing fashion frontrunner. Fingers crossed.