autumn time

I've grown a mammoth tomato plant from a seed in the compost heap. It's dwarfing a little apple tree and now the squirrels have begun to eat the little fruit, so I'm going to have to pick them to keep ownership. Shame.

fishing

Feed the fish.
well hands up if you can see the fish, and if you can't get your own here.

Death of a calculator

It definitely wasn't all work.

In NY

it's not all work on a hot trip to NY

a message from Bill

I'm sold, I think it's worth supporting.

puttin' on the ritz

Make sure you watch to the end.

Jack Petchey Connection

On my way back from Docklands and the Girlguiding do, I found a bit of a crowd at my neighbour's house. Stik of stick men fame was doing some wall painting in the front garden and had gathered an admiring crowd. When I mentioned that I had met Jack Petchey at the Guiding do he said that he had also been helped by the foundation in the past. There is an academy up the road from us called 'Petchey Academy' it specialises in medicine and healthcare. So many coincidences...
Anyway Stik is painting some works for the NHS highlighting the various addictions that plague local society. I think that more than that he's got lots of people talking together on the street who normally don't even notice each other's existence. You can make your own guess about the references here. And if you look carefully you can see a man wearing an Ally Capellino Jonathan, bought for him by his very generous wife he told me.

100 years of Girl Guiding.

Yesterday I was asked to open an exhibition at the Museum of London docklands celebrating 100 years of girl guiding. I've never done anything like that before. I was a bit of a thrill seeing a small group of the 600,000 strong girls movement all wearing the uniforms that I had designed 10 years ago. The badges definitely seem to be the main attraction, I love the way the girls make free with where they sew them on. Here's a sample of badges that you could have qualified for in the past - it must have been wartime judging by the variety - Laundress, Electrician, Carpenter, Domestic Service, Flyer, Rifleshot, First Aid and I think that the last one must be Radio. My Brownie uniform, I remember as being much like these ones from the 1920's, and as I was a Brownie in the 60's I presume they weren't so quick to update in those days. I loved my hand-me-down with it's giant, turned up hem, breast pockets, lanyard, whistle, scarf/tie, epaulettes and jangling belt. I think that Frank is almost a direct descendant. At the presentation of a Queen's Guide Award to a young achiever I also met Jack Petchey, who I learnt has donated £1.4m to the guides in the last 10 years. More about him in the next post.......

Very Fashionable Indeed

Last night the Ally Capellino girls went to the Fashionable pub quiz, and guess what - yep we won........ this was supposed to represent a fashion 'house' The pipe cleaner stilts suggested 'top' shop.

on the road

We were asked by Pitti Uomo in Florence to make a mini presentation of our 30 years exhibition. Here are a few pics.... All the stuff fitted beautifully into 6 wooden crates - made by Rupert. He shows more of how it looked. And the final wall condensed into 3 x 7 metres. Oh, and a sneak preview of SS2011 there as well.

Copying

Last year we were ripped off in Australia and I found that I had no protection against it. I'm thinking about whether I agree with the view put over here. I certainly wish I hadn't bothered getting a greedy lawyer on the case.

Football?

These flags put up for the world cup looked so lovely this evening against the gorgeous blue sky. I was cycling home after a glass and a half of wine - hope they still look good tomorrow.

he's a genius - Quentin Blake

Watching these bookish types come alive is breathtaking, I love him.

Nepotism

Hamish, my son, is advertising himself wearing a mustard coloured handknit and a kilo tin of mustard. Both Christmas presents from me a couple of years ago. The photo is by Rory, his cousin.

Donald Christie Films

Donald and I go way back. We were both at Tadcaster Grammar School in the 70's, but I was the older, and so as is normal, I didn't notice him. He was in my sister Frances' year and then they were both at Art School in Newcastle. I first met him when we were looking for a photographer in about 1996. I love his honest style and love of the big outdoors. We seemed to shoot more than once in near blizzard conditions at Dungeness. Here are 2 films that he has made for the 30 years of AC exhibition. The first is all the portraits of Bag wearers including every shot, over 2000 of them. The second is the film "Timothy" of the bag we made 5 of to be sold in aid of CWAC.





To buy the last orange leather 'Timothy' of the series go here .............. it's in a very good cause.

at Liberty

it's been and gone now, although a couple of the bags remain, but here are the pictures of our leather Frank bag presented in an almost holy way at Liberty - catch it before it ascends to the heavens. Rupert's presentation is almost profane.

all about food- or birthdays?

I've got a bit behind with this recently, it's been so busy being 30. I will put some of the back ground to that up here soon and a down loadable virtual tour of the exhibition and other activities. Meanwhile - back to sustenance.........There's a book of recipes being put together for the centenary of Arnold Circus at the end of the road. I'm entering my pie made of leftovers from the weekend, it was my parents 80th birthday and there were plenty of remains. hope the recipe gets into the book.  Recipe poster1 It's leek, salmon, feta and dill quiche. Had it for lunch today and it was good.Here is a picture of the compost heap cake that Aggs made for my parents. It's their passion.

The A Team

This is us, all the bag ladies.

Orange Timothy

Here is the installation that Rupert has done for us at Shoreditch House. The film by Donald Christie is running constantly showing 6 different people racing around the local area I'll try and get a version to put up here. It's part of the show for the Wapping Project that we are doing. Why don't you go and have a cocktail or so and have a look. Oh or buy.

Malcolm McLaren

Sorry to hear about this loss. I love his attitude to failure in this article in the Observer from a few years ago.

in Ibiza

Spring was sprung a few weeks before here in Ibiza, what amazing weather. A little plug for James Giuseppi, he started me off on Yoga 6 or 7 years ago and I've been on 3 yoga holidays (or retreats as we call them) since. This one was at Atzaro in Ibiza somewhere and it was really lovely, very chi chi too. Here's Keith, my trusty travel mate, lounging on his sun lounger.

laughter therapy

This can't help but cheer you up.

In the news - dangerous dogs

Each season we do a picture to introduce the new season. Last summer - keeping it local as ever we tried out our neighbour Ian's garden shed. Although we got some good shots, a certain Mr Haggis kept on stealing the limelight. In the end we did it in our back garden where he kept out of the way. He's a Staffy!!

travel

As spring finally starts to take a hold and I picked my 2nd bunch of flowers from the garden this weekend, I can't help thinking of a holiday. I don't know if I'll ever get to the Yemen, but it sure looks amazing. Tim Mackintosh-Smith is the knowledgeable Brit there. Apparently they love a bit of high rise in Sana'a and these are up to 400 years old.

birthday cake

Aggie made me an amazing red Frank birthday cake. Thanks Aggs.

Pink Sheep

I want to write about Lee McQueen and also about Liza Maberley, a good friend from NZ. They died on consecutive days this week.    Generally, I try not to write too much and keep things in visual form and that is going to be difficult here. In December I bumped into Lee in Shoreditch House, he said he was designing 14 collections (I'm not sure if it was a year or a season) and although they were not all completely his work, they went out under his name.     He said  'it's alright for you Ally, you just do your thing don't you?'  I had to admit that things were working quite nicely along those lines just now. I went home and felt sorry for him as it seemed he was a genius being worked like a machine. I had a little session of going through a lot of his old shows on u-tube. When I recounted the story to Liza, she was already on the downward slide with cancer. I knew she would enjoy hearing about my brush with someone from the glam side of fashion,  and she did too. On the road to Liza's house is a place called 'Sheep World'  - crap name, but with a very effective way to catch your eye  - Pink Sheep.  We laughed about them in November when I last saw her.   Lee McQueen also called himself the pink sheep of the family. So here are those sheep in memory of them both.  And also a TED lecture on the burden of genius

spuds

this follows on from stones - can't seem to get off the food thing. I cleared out the veg box and found some good ones lurking in the bottom. The blacker one has been on the window cill for a few weeks.

delicious in kobenhavn

We ate ready made Smorrebrod at lunchtime and then went again for dinner. The combinations of ingredients make your head spin a bit, but in a good way. A spread made of lard, lemon, salt and horseradish and a goats cheese ice cream with beetroot kind of granita stuff have stuck in my mind. All of it delicious. Give it a go if you're in Copenhagen. Aamanns, but I think it's pronounced oomans

preview

We went to NY to show our new winter 2010 collection to the buyers. I didn't take a camera, but Fader put it on their website and so it seems fair that we should have a little preview here too. There's an interview with me as well, sandwiched between 2 others - they love our colours!!!!!!

buzzcocks

Enough of stones, here's one of my favourite songs......

stone face

Where ever there is flint you always find these funny faces on stones - or maybe these chaps just got too close to the nuclear power station at Sizewell beach. Sometimes you need a good imagination.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I've had a bit of blogger's block, or maybe I've just been taking it easy. So far 2010 has been very foody, and as a follow on from my fishy experiences in Japan I've tackled a couple of fish fresh out of the sea at Suffolk. Mr Sea Bass was delicious with lemon salt and oil and Mr Lobster slipped into the boiling water without so much of a squeak. I did feel a bit mean, but he was very tasty and the cat had fish head and lobster for sups for 3 days. Also I'm trying some sourdough - inspired by Momoko. So far doesn't look too appealing!!!!!

Not just a pair of pins

Janey has been the legs of Ally Capellino for coming up to 10 years - Think she was 15 when we shot the first postcard. Now she's a sculptress of refinement and great subtlety. Here is her website. Hope she gives us another 10 years before she gets into support hose.

So much good stuff out there

Burn magazine has some fantastic "photo essays", I've chosen one with a good song and a fairly upbeat air, but beware lots are on the bleaker side. This one very much so.

Cute gels on the tube

Leila's shop

If you've been to our shop on Calvert Avenue then no doubt you've already been to Leila's shop. Now there are 2 of them, cafe and shop. Her display skills are on top form at the moment - the windows look lovely.

Rooftops

Here are some lovely rooftops and buildings from the last couple of months. the view to the east of the Marais in October. Tokyo - behind Shibuya. Water tank in Shibuya  and Downtown Auckland - I think the blue car is making that building look good. Nice scrap yard in Auckland. Finally - beautiful Hong Kong. There are roof gardens on the tops of the buildings down there.

Cones

On a lighter note....   I have noticed a national obsession here....    traffic cones, they pop up everywhere and become little characters once you start to notice them. They come in all sizes and colours. Hopefully I get the pictures on here before my flight is called or I run out of battery.

In Tokyo

Last night Momoko and I went for some sushi to celebrate our last evening in Tokyo. We went to Naka-Meguro in a small riverside place where we sat at the bar and the clientele smoked a lot. There were a dozen or so of the fishy little bricks on a wooden block in front of us and we were working our way through them with a couple of beers. Gradually, my attention was taken by a new dish that was being prepared in front of us. The chef had got a live fish and cut the fillets off it. Then he skewered it and sat it upon a pile of grated radish and arranged the cut up pieces of its own fillets around it. There was a nice little pile of ginger on the side. It looked spectacular, but the poor fish was still gasping for life after 5 minutes of preparation. Momoko's reaction was "wow - that is truly fresh fish",  whereas mine was to dissolve into tears and not be able to finish my sushi. I was too upset to take a picture,  so here's a drawing of the last moments of poor Mr. Fish.

raining in london, but look at this 'the best handicapped band in Africa'

What a pleasure is that? Here's their story

Camels and found notes

Purely for fun this one - my special friend in NZ found this picture in a bin (think they call it a dumpster) and sent it in to a site called FOUND There are some funny entries that other people have picked up too.

Yohji Files For Bankruptcy

so how comes this wasn't in the Guardian - lots of stuff about the fashion shows in Paris etc - good fun, but surely this deserves a mention too?

Yohji is Rescued - 3 days later hooray

in paris

Michelle and I are in Paris, selling our Spring Summer 2010 collection. We are in a showroom lent to us by Serge of Boutique Homme, in the Marais. We are staying in a beautiful garret on the 6th floor with fantastic views. there is also a cute puppy here, called Earl.

kigu

This fun suit is from kigu, I think these warm ones are pretty neat for getting a bit dormant in over the winter.

wapping film

here is the film that Mike Chan made for our exhibition at the Wapping Project.

vid

This is nice, and I'm learning to embed stuff.

Typophile Film Festival 5 Opening Titles from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

at tent

Here are Zoe and David at Tent in Spitalfields for the LDF. Proud owners of their new toy, which it sounds as though is going to be a huge success in the quality toys department - appealing to kids and parents, as good as old. And here is a lovely film they made for their previous shapemaker toy.

Furniture by Rupert

Rupert who made the set for our studio/shop in Wapping has got an exhibition on at Elemental in Spitalfields. I went to have a look today, some lovely pieces, including a kind of a bachelor's cabinet downstairs that I loved. Here's another from his website

Wapping - design isn't simple - it's complex

Here is a view of the build up of our exhibition at Wapping. All clever work by RupertBlanchard Hope you might be able to get down there before it finishes this Sunday 27th

cooking for men

I found this on the wall on the way to catch the bus the other morning. I think we've come quite a long way since what looks like the '70s. I got all excited about the 'Caravan cookery', but it turned out to be sausages on a bbq.

LSE installing

London Fashion Week provided some great people watching this weekend at Somerset House. As I left I spotted this on Kingsway - still being installed on the side of the LSE building. It's a piece by Richard Wilson. He's the one that made the incredible tank full of sump oil at the Saatchi Gallery.

bloomberg tv

look how shocked he is about the collaborations. Yesterday I was on the telly at Bloomberg, what an amazing James Bond like place. They've got a nice gallery as well.

show me

Welcome to my new blog. Here I am in Elle - the most fun fun I've had in my bedroom all year. As you can see I can never throw anything away and these are some lovely old French dungarees that I got in a second hand shop on Bethnal Green Road. Please show me your Ally Capellino wardrobe - old or new, bag or clothing