01.09.08 Lanky Bird featured as a specialist label
The following extract was published in the September 2008 edition of the Sunday Express Magazine:
Ali Allinson, 43, lives in Norwich with her partner Guy, 40, a chartered surveyor, and her two daughters - Grace, 13, and Isabel, 11. She runs Lanky Bird, a specialist fashion company for tall women.
"I've been tucking my jeans into boots long before it was fashionable to do so, because I've had to. As a tall woman, at 5ft 10ins, it's always been difficult to find trousers long enough in the leg to reach my ankle so I've had to learn to adapt. It's not only my bottom half which has caused me problems. If you have long legs your arms are usually longer-than-average, too, so shirt and jumper sleeves also fall short.
You can buy clothes specially made for tall women at some specialist outlets, but there aren't many and they can be expensive and limiting.
But I've always loved clothes and studied fashion design at college and went on to land a dream job as the product development manager at a menswear clothing company; travelling to Paris, Milan or Brazil, to select fabrics and work on designs. After I married my husband Clive in 1992 and I stopped work when my daughters Grace, now 13, and 11-year-old Isabel was born.
I think I might still be a full-time stay-at-home mother if I hadn't suffered terrible tragedy in 2000. My mother had died in September 1999 and then, in February 2000, my husband Clive was killed in a car accident. Months later my father passed away, too.
Of course, my life completely fell apart, I kept going for the sake of my two girls, then just three and four years old. You have to learn to survive pretty quickly when there are children to care for.
But when I finally felt able to cope with my despair, I dedicated myself to ensuring my girls grew up happy, healthy and loved. But I was always keen to go back to being creative and so thought about how I could get back to work. I've always wanted to run my own business and I knew, from personal experience, that there was a real need for more fashion choice for tall women. So I put the two together, and decided to design my own collection.
I knew straight away I wanted to call my label Lanky Bird - I'd been called it often enough when I was a teenager, and I hoped other tall women would relate to it.
Next, I sketched designs, I wanted beautiful basics like black trousers, jeans and especially classic fitted shirts. People often assume that if a woman is six foot tall she must be six foot wide, too! So I focused on designing fitted styles.
I went on a whirlwind research tour, travelled to Paris in February 2005 to source fabrics and to London and Turkey during the sumer of that year to seach for manufacturers. Then I had samples made and got on with selling them. Clive's parents, Jean and Geoff helped with the children while I was away and I employed an au pair, too.
Since launching my website, I've had fantastic feedback from customers. They tell me how lovely it is to have the luxury of a sleeve that hangs over the wrist, not half-way up the arm, and trousers that can be worn with heels without having the material flapping around the ankles.
I wear all my own designs and my girls appear very proud to have a fashion designer for a mum! I'm sure my parents and Clive would have been proud, too, and I do feel they're here, in soul, supporting me.
I was lucky to meet my partner, Guy in January 2007. We've moved in together and enjoy the coutry life. So although in the week I'm busy designing or on jet-setting fashion jaunts to paris or Milan, weekends find me slumming it in wellies and wax jacket or horse riding with my girls.
Visit www.lankybird.com or call 01603 713890