ONE PIECE: Interviewing Ali LaBelle about her favorite art, clothing, decor, and reads (vol. 3)

❥ Interior illustrations, French graphic ephemera, and silverware galore with creative director Ali LaBelle. Plus, how DESIGN can change the world.

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More from me + Absolument can be found in these places: Website | Instagram | Book Recs

Merci, thank you tons and tons for reading!

Some people are gifted with an effortless sense of what they are drawn to, have their hands stirring multiple pots simultaneously, and are able to ignite wonder in others. Ali LaBelle is a sparkling example of this! She’s someone who is often busy whirring up ideas and visuals. Plus, she has the generosity to give others a front seat to her curiosity. She frequently writes on Substack, has a creative studio (for brands that I know you already love), and runs a pasta-adoring endeavor that has transformed into dinner parties and events all over. The list is growing, and all of it is contagiously good!

When we finally meet in person one day (because it has to happen!), I know we’ll have a million things to gush about together. Until then, this is a totally spirited opportunity to have Ali spill the beans on the many things she’s occupied with lately.

As soon as I read Ali’s answers, I rushed back to tell her: “This is perfectly you in every way!” When I look at Absolument’s stats, it has a 43% (!!!) audience overlap with Ali’s newsletter. Chances are, you already read À la Carte. If you do know her work, I’m sure you’ll be hyper-excited to read her responses below. And if this is your first introduction, I hope this ONE PIECE interview opens you up to her wondrously. ❥

Skipping into Ali LaBelle’s world

Ali LaBelle is a creative director in Los Angeles, California. Via her design studio, Ali LaBelle Creative, Ali builds imaginative brand identities for businesses in the interiors, hospitality, fashion, and beauty spaces. Ali also writes a Substack newsletter called À La Carte, a place where she can further explore the things that inspire her most.

Ali’s links: Instagram | Studio | Substack Newsletter

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ONE PIECE of artwork that you wouldn’t mind living alongside:

Oh, just one? There are so many!

I’ve been a longtime fan of illustrator Yukiko Noritake, and I’ve been especially loving her paintings of interiors lately. Not only would I not mind living alongside any of these, but I would be thrilled to live inside them, too.

Baigné de lumière, Yukiko Noritake.

Le Train Bleu, Yukiko Noritake.

Illustrations by Yukiko Noritake.

Salon Marron, Yukiko Noritake.

I also am absolutely head-over-heels for the painting “Poppies and Rings” by LA-based artist Hopie Hill. It was just on view at the Felix Art Fair this month and I’m so mad I missed it. Hopie’s work straddles the line between surrealist photo-realism and those old Dutch still lifes you’d find in the permanent collection of an art museum. It’s so special. 

Poppies and Rings, Hopie Hill.

ONE PIECE of clothing or accessory that you want to wear until it’s tattered:

For someone who lives in sunny Los Angeles and has no plans to leave, I have an impressive outerwear collection. Unfortunately it’s mostly for show because it’s too warm to layer up most of the year, but my trenches (yes, multiple trench coats) always get the most use.

One of my favorites is a vintage, chocolate brown suede version I got on The RealReal a couple of years ago. It’s from Saks’ in-house line, maybe from the ‘80s? And it looks like whoever owned it before me mostly kept it in a garment bag, because it’s in perfect condition. Here I am wearing it at Villa Necchi (one of my favorite places on planet earth):

Ali in Villa Necchi.

ONE PIECE of literature that fills your mind/spirit:

I unfortunately have the memory of a goldfish and forget almost everything I read immediately after I flip the final page, but I am always really drawn to stories about sisters and female friendships. My sister is my favorite person and our relationship is so meaningful to me, so sisterhood plotlines always get me. 

Three books come to mind: Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, which I just read and absolutely loved; Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, which is loosely inspired by Little Women; and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. The first two are both novels about complicated sister dynamics, and the third is a memoir about the friends in Dolly’s life that might as well be family. I’ve already forgotten most of the details of all three but I still remember how they made me feel.

ONE PIECE of decor that would provide a mood boost to your home:

I have dreams of having a Martha Stewart-level stash of silver someday, but lately I’ve been focused on starting a small collection of pewter serveware. My friend Sarah got me started with a tiny pewter salt cellar that she gave me for my birthday—it’s from Match Pewter and it’s so special. I have my sights set on a fancy sugar bowl next.

ONE PIECE of advice for yourself or others:

I think a lot of us can relate to the perfectionist’s curse and the sense of discontent that comes with it. I always feel like there’s room for improvement, if I just had a little more time, if I just put a little more into it…

Something I’ve learned that’s helped me fight against that feeling quite a bit is that no one else knows what’s inside my head. Whatever I’m imagining—my home, a project, an outfit—is only visible to me, and even though I might fixate on what could be “better”, no one else can. 

So anytime I find myself feeling bad that something isn’t hitting the mark (or, the unrealistic expectation I have for whatever that mark is,) I remind myself that my 75% might be everyone else’s 100%, and that that is probably just fine.

Pieces of extra credit:

I know you’re a big collector of ephemera! Can you show us a treasured item in your trunk of inspiration and explain its back story? 

Yes! Here are a few (inspired by France, because why not!):

• I bought that vintage Martini matchbook and the sucre vanilliné envelope from the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen in Paris in 2019. So much of what I save is because of its typography—I just love how delightfully weird people were willing to go with type at one point. 

• While I was at the flea market I kept seeing those postcard booklets everywhere, and I took a million pictures of them, but I didn’t buy one… Until one day in the pandemic I went down a rabbit hole and ended up ordering a few off of Etsy. The postcards themselves are fine but I especially love the borders on the covers.

• This fits the theme only because my last name is French, but my friend Sarah found this matchbook for LaBelle Tailoring Co. here in LA and gave it to me for my birthday! I have no idea how I might be related to this tailor but one of these days I’ll solve the mystery.

In what way do you think "design" is going to transform the world this year? Whether it’s your own personal world or the entire globe! 

I think a lot of us, especially those of us that are pretty sensitive, are feeling the weight of the world these days. I’m personally finding it hard to be optimistic about much of anything when, here in the US, the rights of almost everyone I know are being dismantled at an alarming rate.

But I do think design has the power to bring joy and beauty to everyday life, and design persists whether or not the world is falling apart around us. I think my own personal happiness is dependent on me being able to create moments of peace for myself when I can, whether that’s by way of the paint on my walls or the comfort of my sofa or the work I do for my clients every day. These little things aren’t going to change the world, but they’re going to keep my world as balanced as possible.

If your days were suddenly 30 hours long, what is one way your life would be positively impacted? 

When it comes to time, my priorities tend to be my alone time first, then work, then time spent with other people, in that order. If I don’t check myself I can spend days and days on my own, bopping back and forth between working and resting without remembering how important it is to spend time with the people I love. Where other people struggle with self-care, I struggle with social care, I guess!

So if I had an extra six hours a day, I’d spend them on walks with my friends, at long lunches and happy hours on a near-daily basis, and having family dinners more often. I wouldn’t work more or take more time for myself—I’d just try to prioritize my relationships more. 

Related Notes:

Notes Of: Meringue and A Garden Party via Ali LaBelle.

This post is already rich, rich, rich, so I have nothing to add except for a wild urge for you to check out Ali’s mood boards. Examples are here, here, here—in her Notes Of category. I am convinced that she’s the one who revived people into the act of physically (and digitally) mood boarding again. (Doubling down on the idea that her creativity is contagious!)

Thank you one thousand times, Ali!

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Happy one piece-ing!

Kelsey Rose

Website | Book Recs | Instagram

Cover image: Collage of portrait of Ali LaBelle with Baigné de Lumière by Yukiko Noritake