alice's wonderland.(Alice Temperley)(Interview)

Byline: Plum Sykes

There's a certain kind of girl who exists outside regular fashion. She's not running off to Prada to buy the latest seasonal thing. She's not buying an It bag from Dior, nor is she interested in Balenciaga's hot skinny Bowie trousers. She's the Alice Temperley girl. She's a style nomad who drifts from Alice Temperley in New York to Alice Temperley in Los Angeles to Alice Temperley in London. It's planet Alice.

_new york city

Alice is sitting curled up on a giant white sofa in her sun-filled Broome Street loft, wearing a deep-purple knit dress. "I wanted it to feel like a French salon," she says of the space, which was formerly an art gallery. Alice and her husband, Lars von Bennigsen, shipped old brasserieware from Paris flea markets; church lanterns were hung from the ceilings; and their signature satin quilts appliqued with silver leather were thrown over huge armchairs.

Today Jacquetta Wheeler has dropped by to shop the spring collection. She started wearing Alice Temperley three years ago, after modeling in the show. "I don't make an appointment to come here," Jacquetta says. "I come when Alice and Lars are in town, to hang out, have a Bloody Mary, and then look at the clothes. We usually end up ordering sushi, eating jelly beans, and all playing Perudo!" Jacquetta's favorite pieces from Alice Temperley are the cashmere sweaters. She throws the giant collars over her head to help her sleep when she's traveling for work.

Salman Rushdie's wife, the actress Padma Lakshmi, hangs out at the loft a lot, too. "We're all very close friends," says Padma, who shops Alice in London, New York, and L.A. "We were neighbors in London, and now that I live in New York, I come here all the time." Here she buys the light chiffon dresses; in England she buys the sweaterdresses because it's often so damp and cold; and on the West Coast she buys sexy tops to wear with jeans ("because no one dresses up there"). Her favorite Temperley piece is what she calls a "swingy ruffled dress that I wore to a George Clooney premiere dinner."

Model Helena Christensen has been up all night watching Paris Hilton at Bungalow 8. Helena says she's tired and doesn't understand the Hilton thing. Helena started shopping with Alice because "I was the girl in one of her campaigns. I said that I wanted to be paid in clothes. I insisted! My favorite is my black dress with butterfly sleeves and embroidered with bordeaux flowers. I go through tons of other dresses when I'm going out, but I always end up wearing that one."