Have I mentioned my obsession with Alice Temperley, her husband, her parent’s Somerset Cider farm, her scrumptiously dipsy pretty dresses and her new Penhaligans line?
Oh, well, I think you should know that I am in love with Alice Temperley, her husband, her parent’s Somerset Cider Farm, her scrumptiously pretty dipsy dresses and her Penhaligans line…
Some people just get it so effortlessly right don’t they? And now, my beating heart be still, Alice has declared to British Vogue that not only has she got a delicious new HomeWares Line on the way, but that she thoroughly intends for gullible women like me to fall head over heels in love with Temperley as a lifestyle…
"Eiderdowns, luggage, accessories, shoes, soft furnishings, menswear, childrenswear…We want to do the lot," says Alice, matter of factly. "My whole thing is surface decoration, finishing, colour, quality. I get no pleasure, for example, from designing a plain black dress. I just want to apply my thing to everything I happen to enjoy and use in my own life. "My ultimate dream" she adds "is to be living in the country in some big house, with lots of children and family and friends running around, being able to spend all my time on the creative side, while I have this incredible band of people actually doing the running of the business, growing that dream. That’s the general idea anyway."
See? She’s an ordinary girl, with extra-ordinary dreams, and the vision it requires to make something scrumptious, into something utterly wonderful. But not only that. You see unlike the rest of us, with our own creative ambition ,and fantasies of world domination and a mention in Vogue, Alice has a secret weapon in her arsenal: her husband Lars, and Lars, the backbone of the Temperley queendom, just ain’t like other men…
"We want to make money, of course," adds Lars, "but we are also adamant about maintaning our integrity. Like do we really need two shops in Philadelphia? No. Do we want to sell in Marks and Spencers? Definitely not. But do we want people who might not otherwise be able to afford Temperley to be able to share in the lifestyle and special experience? Well yes, and the way to do that, is to create the best British luxury brand as opposed to label. The beauty of Alice’s talent," he continues, "is that it can be expanded into any kind of arena. She can walk into a room and work her magic over every item. You get her to design a car, she’ll do it. You get her to design an aeroplane, she’ll do that too. You see," he goes on, so softly now I have to crane my neck over the table, "there are very few people like Alice. I’m not sure people actually realise the longetivity of her talent yet, which is frustrating, but I guess it just takes time."
Oh to have a man like that to believe in me with such passion. So enamoured was I, that I forced Mark to put down the sport pages and read the entire article about Alice and her lovely life. He hummed and haa-ed, and admired the pretty dresses, and said yes, he would love to live in a farm in Somerset, and then he put down the magazine, picked up his glass of wine and said "But don’t you think there’s something a bit despicable about seeing your wife as a brand?
Now tell me this and tell me no more, is it me, or him that just doesn’t get it??
Visit Alice Temperley here and read more about her here…
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