Ali Wall designs and creates contemporary fashion clothing using modern and vintage fabrics.

She constantly sources one off fabrics from antique fairs, country house auctions, London fabric shops or collaborates with local artists. Her designs are inspired by the fabric and Ali often designs her garments by draping on the stand as well as adapting original vintage patterns.

French ticking, 60s bunting, military regalia, cotton voile, tapestries of cottages and ships, brocades, metallic fringing, taffettas, bontanist embroideries, Edwardian patchwork bedspreads ….. all have been given a second life by Ali.

She transforms them into urchin pinafore and bustier dresses, cropped playsuits and bra tops, sparkling sequin bomber jackets and utilitarian embroidered lab coats, red leather hot pants and demure sophisticated rose shaped ball gowns.

Ali Wall’s original, vibrant pieces can be bought at the studio on Hackney Road, or you can commission her to create a garment around your ideas.

“The story of an old fabric – where it has come from, where it has been, who made it – can take you back in time. Early fabrics sometimes have a naivety about them, and sometimes make you laugh out loud. What attracts me to the textiles I choose to create with is often their softness, patina and story that comes with age.

And also the colours – vintage fabrics often have subtler colour combinations than modern fabrics. I love to use military regalia and play with that sense of irony and pompousness whilst also appreciating the beauty of their decoration”