Alice Temperley is a morning person. From her idyllic Grade II-listed, 18th-century home in Somerset, the celebrated English fashion designer gets up before sunrise to feed her animals – alpacas, donkeys and a shire horse Tiny, who is, ironically, “f***ing huge” – before taking her son Fox to the bus stop for school. Then, and only then, does she settle into her design studio. It’s calming and serene – a country bolthole she escaped to when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and sapped the joy out of London – but it’s also a world away from her former life of partying, socialising and working as a fashion designer in the Noughties. “God, we used to have fun,” she says, grinning.
We meet at her SS25 presentation – she stopped showing on the official London Fashion Week schedule in 2023 – which she hosts in two grand rooms in a mews house a stone’s throw from Lancaster Gate. It’s one of the few times she’s been in the capital this year, as she divides her time between the US, Italy (where the brand is gaining a loyal following) and the south west, but that doesn’t mean she’s fallen out of love with London.
It’s an exciting time to interview Temperley – the woman who defined whimsical boho chic dressing for the upper classes. Her brand is about to return to a wholesale model after a hiatus due to Brexit and pandemic-induced headaches. She is also opening a new store in Kensington this autumn, because “you can’t grow wholesale without having a presence somewhere”, and is excited for what the future holds. But things weren’t always this positive.
As she talks me through the new collection – interjected by quips to friends who have come to try on her new range of knits and suede embellished jackets – it would seem nothing and everything has changed. Her evening wear designs are as offbeat and gorgeous as ever: a feminine dream that would appease anyone’s inner child, featuring Temperley’s signature intricate beading, pastel hues and, of course, sparkles, gems and even more sparkles. But a company restructure during the pandemic has certainly honed her focus as she continues to expand her ready-to-wear collection and bridal line.
It’s an important time – and one she is justifiably proud of. “Somehow we got through Covid and Brexit when lots of businesses didn’t, but now we’ve got to stand up and look at what we’ve achieved: we’ve got a new store, we’ve got these collections and now we need to step out,” she explains. We sit down with Temperley to discuss life lessons, managing expectations, and how she finds happiness.
Ginger Rogers. We got a TV when I was 11 and I was allowed to watch black and white movies and I was obsessed with the glamour of the dress, feathers, shoes, and the suit. That’s how I learned to think about dressing and [those images] have always been engraved in my brain.
I loved the escapism of cutting stuff up, or finding things in my mother’s cupboard that made me feel a different way. I grew up with long hair with straw in it, helping with lambing; we weren’t really allowed to watch TV and we had to be outside everyday. The moment I learned how things made you feel and how to escape in a different way is when I fell in love with the black label. If you’re wearing a sharp suit, you feel different; if you’re wearing an amazing gown, you can feel a million dollars.
I trained as a textile print designer and I’d never done fashion before. I think [some of the biggest challenges] were the logistics of putting together a collection and delivering it in time because you can print your own fabrics and stitch your own things but if you’re actually doing production, you need a print run and to nail down the logistics of suppliers.
More recently, Brexit has been a nightmare in terms of shipping things in and out of Europe, it’s as expensive as getting things in and out of America. The effects of Covid and people not being confident is one thing, but you’ve also got the bubble and allure of ‘dot com’ and how it’s going to solve everything. [Online retailers] have jeopardised and closed an awful lot of businesses by not paying and performing, and so many people relied on that. But they’re struggling as well because people will order several sizes of one item, and then there’s the expense and time it’s taken to send it, receive it once it’s been returned, unpack it, process it and get it back online so you’re losing weeks of selling time. It’s so difficult. So, we’re going back to bricks and mortar and keeping things really simple [and] true to our brand. We’re opening a store on Sloane Street at the end of October which is a few weeks late because it’s really, really important for us to have bridal, evening wear, and ready-to-wear in one space because people want to touch it and feel it.
I’m in Somerset most of the time. I was born-and-bred in Somerset on a cider farm, hence the lambing. I was a farm girl basically, which is why I have to wear red lipstick, otherwise I feel like a farm girl again. I bought a house there 12 years ago and I moved my son down during Covid, and then I moved the atelier and studio to Somerset too. I have amazing people there, and we have our only UK outlet in Ilminster. It’s got a cocktail bar and a coffee shop and a beautiful courtyard, and has lots of space for the team to work. It’s an amazing place.
I will get up in the morning, feed all my animals and then get my son Fox up and take him to the bus stop at 7.30am. Then I try and have an hour to myself but that doesn’t always happen so I get into the studio and catch up with my team. I’m desperately still trying to balance morning meetings with afternoon creativity which has been a real struggle in the past three months because building out two collections and working on the new store while also being ‘mum’ is a lot. But with new investment there’s so much to deal with and take on board; it’s an illusion that things get easier. I’m desperate to find that creative balance, which I have to do on the weekends and evenings most of the time.
London Fashion Week was great but then we were growing in America and we had a store in LA and New York, and had lots of wholesalers out there. Anna Wintour said, “If you’re going to make it in America, you’re going to have to be here and show here” – so we did [New York Fashion Week] for a while. But I came back to [London] because I had my son and it was the 2008 crash. We had to close the New York store because of the recession – it was as severe as Brexit and Covid. We started showing here and then we went off-schedule because there were so many shows and not enough people were coming, so it was more important for us to show people the product via presentations in our flagship store.
We also haven’t been wholesaling for the past two seasons so there was no point in showing – why invest £100,000 minimum when you’re not actually wholesaling? Because, the question is who comes to your show anyway and what’s really valuable to your business? If you want really good press, do 1-1 appointments; if you want really good content, do a good film or lookbook because at fashion shows you can’t even get close to stuff. I think, unless you can do it really high-end like the big brands or make it really quirky or different, there’s no point in doing something that everyone else has done. It’s like flogging a dead horse and is such a Jurassic way of doing things. Next season we will probably do something, but something that feels right to us and not try to trudge down a path that really needs a good revamp. The world is changing, so why are people still doing the same thing?
That’s not a problem because it’s easy for me to go into the dreamworld. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve stuck doing what I’ve done because despite the challenges I’ve been thrown – from personal c*** to economic issues, going into that world is the place where I escape. Having that time to be creative is so important, because if you’re creative and you don’t have it you will go mad. During Covid, when I wasn’t able to do the collections, I ended up painting a lot, creating wall tapestries, did more interior stuff and redid my house because I have to have an outlet. If that were taken away from me, I would go off and find another one. I love the inspiration: that’s the best bit. Putting together a collection and researching it is great.
HR is a pain in the arse. I absolutely love my team; we have a really good time and there’s not one person who’s a bad egg and doesn’t fit. I’ve been lucky to have an amazing team who have stuck with me for a long time which is really nice. The hardest part is managing what people think they need and when you’ve got too many cooks who have an opinion, you have to really filter through it. People love to have an opinion but you’ve got to stick to your guns.
“I was a farm girl basically, which is why I have to wear red lipstick, otherwise I feel like a farm girl again.”
Alice Temperley
Opening the store in New York was a massive moment. Although we used to party so hard that I wish we hadn’t. I now love the studio in Somerset; it’s a joy to work in. Opening the store in Mayfair was great, although I miss our beautiful mews flagship store which was in Notting Hill. It was five mews houses bashed together and it had a Union Jack on the front. Annie Leibovitz came to do a big piece down there for American Vogue, and that was a real moment of having incredible support. But when you’re that young you don’t realise what a big deal it is as it all happens very quickly. Looking back on it, that was really cool and I do miss those times when the market was very buoyant and the mood of London was electric and the city was alive. God, we used to have fun. Let’s hope in the next few years things will pick up and resolve themselves.
Without a doubt, the 2008 recession was a knock and then when I got divorced shortly after that, it was really difficult. Always with your work you can keep a brave face and carry on going – I think that’s [due to] growing up on a farm and having a dad that made us work hard. Also being a single mum, I had to keep going. If I’d been monied or been able to not work hard, the amount of times when I would’ve just said ‘f*** it’, but you continue because you’re responsible for your team, suppliers that become friends and number one, you’re a mum.
Then you’ve got Covid, which meant we restructured the company, which was incredibly hard. We managed to keep most of our team and our suppliers [but] that’s why we got rid of our store in Mayfair. It was the unknown, not just with what’s happening with Covid but are the kids going to be able to go back to school; is anybody going to buy anything again; is Covid going to kill everyone or go away? The positives out of that is that I moved the whole HQ and the studio down to Somerset so it’s now near my home, we have a lot more space and we have an amazing location for our outlet.
This is the first season since then that we’re wholesaling again. Direct-to-consumer is fine but the ‘dot coms’ are a disaster and the returns are high which is why they’re buckling left, right and centre, so we needed a store. We had a small store in Chelsea to get us through since Covid but now we’re moving to a much bigger space because we need bridal, ready-to-wear and black label in the right space with the right vibe. We will start growing our wholesale again [but] you can’t grow wholesale without having presence somewhere.
I have an amazing new partner in my life so the weekends now are not work-related and they’re fun – whatever that is. It’s a massive help to have someone kind and wonderful. I ride my shire horse, Tiny, whose f***ing huge but he’s gorgeous. I walk on the coast as much as possible. The countryside switches me off. I also travel a lot for work and it’s sometimes really nice to break out of the routine – and I get to sleep more as I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to feed animals. I do have to be very aware of burnout, as there have been times over the past 20 years when I have been close to that, but now I know how to avoid it. Running your own business and raising a child, you push yourself to the limit.
I have lots of powerful, alpha girlfriends that do amazing things, who I call my pirates. They’re all really interesting, wild and fabulous, so they constantly inspire me. My mum, too, because she is so ridiculously and effortlessly glamorous and introduced me to the world of vintage, festivals, dressing up and escapism. She will look equally as good in one of my ridiculous evening dresses as she does in a suit or a pair of trousers as she lives and works on the farm. She’s just the most glamorous woman ever. She’s in her late seventies and can still do the splits at a party.
Kindness, and being able to delegate without too much control and making somebody feel micromanaged. Giving people responsibility and confidence, once they’ve earned it, is important. Micromanaging doesn’t get anything out of anyone.
I think there’s been a dramatic change. When you’ve got women wearing things and understanding the product, it’s really important. The only thing I don’t appreciate about being a woman is business is you’ve got have a f***ing tantrum to get people to listen.
I’ve got amazing women friends and a female-dominated team but things can be tricky with women in the fashion industry who love nothing better than supporting their gay best friend. I think women have never been that supportive of other women in the industry, which is really weird. But now we have amazing female designers like Isabel Marant and Sarah Burton, who is a genius, so I think it’s changing, and I think women’s attitudes are also changing. Hopefully women are becoming a little less complicated – I can’t bear complicated women.
I really don’t think people should work five-day weeks, and I’m happy to encourage that. I think the old ways aren’t working – obviously things have changed with working remotely and Covid proved that – but the demands are on all of us and it’s all encompassing. Teams are getting smaller, while demands and responsibilities increase. With the uncertainty of markets, it would be nice if everything could settle a bit.
I think [the juggle between career and motherhood for women] would go away if we could work less days. And not just women, but men too. It’s just so strange that you have a child and then when it gets to a certain age you just put it in childcare. I think people should be able to work less so they can spend more time with their child.
Only do it if you have absolute conviction that is what you love and that you really are prepared to continue learning. You can be good at something but things around you can change. When you’re in the creative industry, don’t try to take on too many different things as you want to be a master of what you’re doing.
I’m across everything and it’s exhausting but if I could have a focus on one thing it would be great. I wear the day [collection] – I love the knits and summer pieces – but I absolutely love working on the embellished, Ginger Rogers-style dress; that’s so fun because it’s total escapism and those pieces are like works of art. Bridal is like trying to design the ultimate fantasy dress and you can use the best materials, ingredients, crystals. When you’re doing a bespoke dress that has no ceiling, it’s amazing.
I have been on a rollercoaster in this career path and my personal life. I could write a book about my experiences, some of which people don’t know about or wouldn’t believe. There have been some incredibly difficult situations and I’m incredibly lucky to have a team, family and friend that’s been around me to get me through those tricky situations.
It’s all about staying around and longevity, there are some terrible times but you’ve just got to get through them. It’s like in our personal life: the shit times make you appreciate the good times. Somehow we got through Covid and Brexit when lots of businesses didn’t, but now we’ve got to stand up and look at what we’ve achieved: we’ve got a new store, we’ve got these collections and now we need to step out.
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