Australian fashion designer Alice McCall has announced the closure of her eponymous brand following a devastating health diagnosis.
McCall, 48, shared an Instagram post on Friday revealing that she’s been suffering with several lesions on her pelvic bone and vertebrae, and is now waiting to learn whether she has bone cancer.
On top of this, McCall fears she may have had an ‘adverse reaction to a radioactive IV at the nuclear department of the cancer hospital.’
McCall, who recently rebooted her brand with the help of Shein after it went into liquidation, said she has no choice but to once again shutter her business.
‘Unfortunately I’m having to close my brand down again very soon as I just can’t work at the moment,’ she wrote, adding: ‘I want to send appreciation to my business partners for believing in me and the investment, but we now need to close, as I’m dealing with severe health issues.’
‘I love designing. I love being creative. I’m absolutely gutted with what’s happening with my health. It’s one thing after the other,’ she wrote.
Her focus now is to improve her health, and ‘cultivate light and love’, McCall said.
McCall has been struggling with various health conditions for some time.
Australian fashion designer Alice McCall, 48, (pictured) has announced the closure of her eponymous brand following a devastating health diagnosis
In June, she told her Instagram followers that she’d been diagnosed with foraminal stenosis – a condition where the small openings in the spine narrow and press on nearby nerves, causing pain, numbness, or weakness.
A year prior, she had been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder – a condition where there’s a problem with how the brain and nervous system send and receive signals, even though there’s no structural damage.
‘My symptoms are neurological and mental. But the scariest ones currently are physical,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘I’m starting to find it hard to walk and pick up ordinary objects like my handbag or a cup of tea. I’m degenerating so quickly that I’ve had to stop working, even doing the grocery shopping has become hard. It’s no longer second nature to me.’
McCall said she had ‘lost complete sensation’ across the entire surface of her skin and claimed her muscles were ‘deteriorating at a really fast pace’.
‘I want to get better. I’m scared. My body and my mind are failing me,’ she wrote.
McCall shared an Instagram post on Friday revealing that she’s been suffering with several lesions on her pelvic bone and vertebrae, and is now waiting to learn whether she has bone cancer
She had previously spoken about her neurological condition in April 2025, writing on Instagram that she felt a ‘sudden disconnect from the world’ 18 months ago and hadn’t felt the same way since.
The symptoms occurred six months before her brand went into liquidation, owing almost a million dollars in debts.
McCall said: ‘It was like I was unplugged energetically from my surroundings, as if the electricity was turned off.’
McCall said she had contacted doctors, neurologists, naturopaths and even energy healers and psychics to try get some answers, but is yet to receive a diagnosis.
‘It’s a very abstract condition it seems and hard for people to understand, and diagnose so I feel minimised and unheard,’ she continued.
‘But know just because you can’t see something or label it, doesn’t mean it’s not real.’
In June, she told her Instagram followers that she’d been diagnosed with foraminal stenosis – a condition where the small openings in the spine narrow and press on nearby nerves, causing pain, numbness, or weakness
Alice McCall the label was founded in 2004 and became a favourite among Australian fashionistas for its feminine party dresses, playsuits and separates
Alice McCall the label was founded in 2004 and became a favourite among Australian fashionistas for its feminine party dresses, playsuits and separates.
The pieces were regularly featured on red carpets and in high fashion editorials for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle and the brand was beloved for what many described as its ‘playful sensibility’.
However the brand struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic before going into liquidation in February 2023, owing $1million to creditors.
McCall attempted to make a comeback in November 2023 by collaborating with fast fashion giant Shein, releasing a collection of low-priced garments in her signature whimsical style.
The move was criticised by fans of the brand, which has been shrouded in controversy for years following allegations of large-scale environmental impacts and the copying of designs from other, often smaller, fashion labels.
However this didn’t stop McCall from collaborating with Shein again in 2024 following the sell-out success of her debut collection.
After the brand went into liquidation, McCall attempted to make a comeback in November 2023 by collaborating with fast fashion giant Shein
