If only Orla and co had stopped treating shoppers like mugs

DESIgnER and homewares whizz Orla Kiely has shut her fashion empire. How sad. Almost tragic, really, for devotees of her quirky and quaint dresses, such as the duchess of Cambridge, sister Pippa and their mother, the sainted Carole.

Where will the Middleton women now shop for their favourite demure, Mary Poppins looks?

The careful pleats, neat waistlines and velvet trims that whisper quietly of Sunday school-teacher chic, of Fifties typing pools, of the kind of inoffensive, fusty mum-frocks that stood them in such good stead in their private and public roles?

The fashion world has been wailing about the end of the celebrated clothes line, although the homewares range will continue to be sold in department store outlets such as John Lewis and debenhams.

Perhaps that was the problem all along. The kitchenalia, bed linens, wallpapers and prints were often mass-produced in the same prints as the (rather expensive) clothes.

did Orla Kiely become just too ubiquitous?

For example, the current range at John Lewis boasts over 170 items, from alarm clocks to oven gloves — and, to be honest, I’d be rather disappointed if I were given any of them.

In fact, I’m so fed up with her celebrated ‘Stem print’, I might scream if I ever see it again. Every fashion range needs a frisson of mystique and exclusivity because women who have paid £300 for a dress don’t want to come upon a matching tea towel in the same print, thank you very much.

And there is such a thing as overkill, when multi-platform promotion in popular culture can demean, rather than promote, a brand.

In the film Bridget Jones’s Baby, Bridget has Orla Kiely nappy bags stashed in her flat. On TV, EastEnders character Stacey Slater has her Albert Square flat decorated with Orla Kiely’s Multi Acorn Spot wallpaper. It might be aspirational for her, but now it isn’t for everyone else.

Meanwhile, a million British kitchens boast a million Orla Kiely toasters. And who wants to go to a party wearing the same print as the toaster in the kitchen? Especially if the toaster looks rather shapelier in it than you.

The crash couldn’t have come at a more embarrassing time for the dublin-born designer and her husband cumbusiness partner, dermott Rowan. For a grand Orla Kiely exhibition is running at the Fashion And Textiles Museum in London. Called A Life In Pattern, it celebrates her life’s work.during the dozens of interviews to promote the show, Miss Kiely urged people to consider that her body of work ‘is so much more than they ever imagined’. She must have known that her brand was in big trouble, but decided to keep that to herself.

now the company is being put into liquidation with its two London stores to close, along with retail outlets in Kildare and new York.

Orla and her husband looked very sad leaving their £ 2.5 million home in a fashionable area of SouthWest London yesterday. Yet my sympathies lie with their workforce, who haven’t been paid for three weeks.

They were told on Wednesday lunchtime they were out of a job, before being escorted from the building by security, with many in tears. Customers who have bought goods online don’t know if their orders will be honoured. Of course, the crash is blamed on everything and everyone except Orla Kiely herself and her crazy over-expansion.

There is no doubt the High Street is struggling, with mid-market brands such as hers particularly vulnerable to a downturn. House of Fraser collapsed in the summer before a hasty rescue, and John Lewis’s profits have slumped dramatically.

In much the same way, chain restaurants such as Jamie’s Italian, Prezzo, Strada and Byron are also having a torrid time.

Orla and the gang will all tell you that difficult trading conditions, the long, hot summer, the rise in the minimum wage, crippling business rates, a lack of consumer confidence and that old chestnut of Brexit fears have led to their demise. And, yes, they might all be contributing factors.

But there is another reason. Which is that consumers are fed up with being taken for mugs.

Why would anyone pay a tenner for a pizza in Jamie’s when they can get a superior one for half that money in Franco Manca? Why shop in dreary House of Fraser when there is no point in walking across their threshold?

Why put up with bad service and lack of stock in any High Street store when you can buy it cheaper and easier online?

Brands like Orla Kiely must have felt the cold winds of change blowing around their ankles for years, but they have done little to improve their range and position. And they take customer loyalty for granted, which is the biggest mistake of all.

So farewell, Orla. no longer will we see her twee cardigans, sludgy palette of accessories and day dresses that were fit for a duchess on High Street racks.

The Middletons might be in mourning, but they can always console themselves with those other family favourites — LK Bennett and Reiss.

Meanwhile, Orla Kiely’s official company Instagram account boasts of exciting new products, including an elephant- shaped wooden board with matching cheese knives. Which says it all, really.