An Email From Buckingham Palace Interrupts a Houston Fashion Power Meetup — Alice Temperley and SheSpace Founder Bond

Beg your pardon, but there’s an email from the Palace. That would be Buckingham Palace. And thus the Q&A between Alice Temperley of Temperley London and SheSpace co-founder Stephanie Tsuru over tea at Houston’s Elizabeth Anthony store was momentarily put on hold as the fashion designer responded to the query from the Palace.

Alas, we may never know what the email concerned. but we did learn much about the talented designer.

A score or so of selected Houston fashionables were invited by Elizabeth Anthony to peruse Temperley‘s whimsical trunk show, to nibble on cucumber sandwiches, sweets and other English tea comestibles and do a bit of serious shopping.

Getting to the heart of the fashion matter, Tsuru asked Temperley to describe her design oeuvre.

“Artisanal, timeless and eclectic,” Temperley says. She adds this kicker: “Masculine and feminine with some bling.”

Indeed, the designer was wearing all of the above — a flowy white lace dress, a black ribbon at the neck and the most delightful jacket. The Diamantine shirt  jacket with a masculine silhouette is a fantastical piece with ornate embroidery, stitched insignias and embellished medals and finished with crystal accents.

“It has a Napoleon influence,” Temerpley says. “It’s a reference to the 1800s with lots of medals. Medals and more medals.”

She allowed that she was working on the jacket in the library of her country home in Somerset, England, while her son was celebrating his 17th birthday in another part of the 18th century dwelling. That home has earned YouTube and design magazine coverage and Temperley says that without that retreat from the hustle and bustle of the fashion world and London, she “would go mad.”

The version of the jacket in navy blue captured Tsuru’s attention and we believe she is the lucky fashionista who made the purchase.

Temperley shared that she grew up on a farm in Somerset, just as Tsuru grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and learned the value of hard work and dedication that is required in her fashion business. Tsuru says the same values are key to her success with SheSpace.

“The most awful thing a woman can do is let the dress wear her,” Temperley says. “You should know your body, know how you move, know the things to highlight about your body” in selecting something to wear.

With that and concluding remarks from Elizabeth Anthony owner Julie Roberts, the ladies began chatting among themselves before returning to the racks for some retail therapy. Bonus was the trunk show from fine jewelry designer Meredith Young, offering plenty of bling to accent the Temperley London designs.

PC seen: Kelley Lubanio, Leigh Smith, Shawn Stephens, Gigi Huang, Caroline Brown, Shelagmichael Brown, Samantha Plomer, Dawn Cornell, Vanessa Ames, Kristina Somerville, Cheryl Byington, Zane Carruth, Karina Barbieri, and Christy Rowland.