Last September when I was ordering the Spring collection I got to meet the crazy lady herself! She told me “Ireland!! I love Ireland! I went there with my boyfriend a couple years ago, we had a blast!” I love that despite Betsey turning 70 this year she is still super young at heart and instead of saying “partner” says boyfriend!

She was so lovely and so enthusiastic about her collection and it was great to meet such an inspiring legend! I was particularly loving her dress on the day and was delighted when I realised it was from the Spring collection so I didn’t hesitate in ordering it for all my great customers!  What I really love is the back of the dress – it has a tailfeather!

xoxo

This dress is now available to buy online or in store!

xoxo

Betsey has always been known for her prints, whether it is her handwritten signature all over a dress, skulls or her vintage floral prints.  This is another feature of the new lower price point collection, re-introducing classic Betsey Prints.  We love this floral red tunic with the open back.

This top is also available in store or online. Click here to buy!

Betsey is also a great one for cute cardigans – always handy with Irish weather!  It’s the little details that make them so cute – heart shaped crystal buttons, ruffle details, lurex threading for a bit of sparkle.

See the Gallery below for a more close-up view, you can also buy them now on www.alila.ie, just click here! 

Another reason we love Betsey is that her collection can be worn all year round! This longsleeve lightweight blue print Bambi dress is great for those who want to cover their arms but also great for those chilly evenings! In winter team with chunky tights and boots and in summer go bare-legged with wedges! We also love that it ties around the waist so shows off your narrowest part! Also the neckline is great for larger busted ladies – its a winner all round!

This little pink satin dress features Betsey’s famous skull print and her signature “Betsey Johnson xoxo” print.  Great for summer and also her little pink cardi with the crystal heart buttons and ruffle detail works perfectly over it for a girly look.  Equally pair with black tights and boots (like our Veronesse black leather boots lined with fur for extra comfort) and a little biker jacket for a more edgy look.

For fans of her main collection there are also a few bargains on our website!

As Betsey would sign off – xoxo Ali!

Alila is the biggest stockist of Eliza & Ethan in the UK & Ireland and is the only store in the world to carry all 20 colours!

The dress consists of a skirt with two very long straps attached.  Simply step into the dress and then decide do you want to wear it in a 1-shoulder style, 2 straps, draped sleeves, backless, v-neck, racer back, halter neck, the amount of ways you can wear it go on and on!

If you want to or have to wear a bra that can be easily done by wearing a bra under the matching bandeau.  Strapless bra’s work best to give you the most options of how to wear the dress without seeing bra straps but you can still wear a style with straps so that your bust is supported.

As it is a very simple dress you can really accessorize it too by adding brooches, corsages, feathers, shoulder pads, whatever you want!

 This dress is especially good for ladies who have big busts and small waists and often find they have to buy bigger sizes and get them altered, with the Eliza & Ethan dress no alterations necessary!

It has been extremely popular for bridesmaids too as it is one size so need for several fittings, we carrythem in stock so no long order time and if you have a bridesmaid abroad you can pretty much guarantee you will find at least one way to tie it that will suit her!

Another great USP of the Eliza & Ethan dress is that if you have any scars that you don’t like you can tie the straps in a position that will cover scars nicely yet not in an obvious way.

The dresses come in 3 different lengths, full length, short at front and longer at back and short which is longer at the sides.

Check out the gallery below to see some more colours and customers who have worn their Eliza & Ethan dresses different ways!  Eliza & Ethan dresses are available to buy in store or online www.alila.ie 

xxx

Karen’s dress is by Alice & Trixie from New York, one of Alila’s exclusive labels in Ireland.  Alice & Trixie make stunning silk dresses in vibrant rich colours and prints that are fun, chic and a little sophisticated.  Karen is also wearing one of our ADA Obi Belts in metallic silver.  These belts are 100% leather and are great for adding to any outfit to add a little glamour and define the waist. There are so many ways to wear them there is even a youtube video showing you how! You can buy Karen’s dress buy clicking here and the belt here.  They are also available in our Drury Street Boutique.

Glenda is wearing one of our Wow Couture Bandage dresses and several of our crystal bangles.  We also have Glenda’s dress available in white online. Purple now sold out.  Her bangles are Swarovski crystal and we have many more in store and online in lots of colours and sizes.  The bangles also come sized so for anyone with little hands and wrists who love the bling but find they fall off, you can get them in small in many colours and widths.

We can’t wait for Christmas morning when we get to open our pressies as well as give them too.  Sometimes i’m more excited to give the presents than recieve, just like this years adorable John Lewis Ad.

And remember if you are buying online you have until 4pm Monday 19th December for orders sent by registered or standard post and 4pm on the 22nd for orders sent by Express post to arrive in time for Christmas!

We wish all our customers a very happy Christmas from Ali and the gals at Alila! x

Adrienne is wearing our gorgeous matt sequin Gold dress and Grace is wearing one of our fab charm necklaces.

Styling was done by the fabulous Courtney Smith, shot by photographer Daniel Holfield, with Lara Ford doing Make-up,  Luke McCaul at Queen did the hair and the models are Grace Fox and Adrienne Murphy @ Assets.

Lili Forberg :

“You name a celebrity, model or musician who has passed through Dublin in the past few years and chances are Lili Forberg has snapped them. The Israeli-born photographer has gone from being a photography student taking band photos in dingy clubs to the most in-demand fashion and music photographer in the country in just a few years. Her work from band shoots to fashion editorials is widely seen in publications such as Grazia, Tatler, Irish Times, Stellar, The Independent’s Life Magazine and NME.

Lili is best known for her work with media personalities and celebrities. Over the past year, some of the stars she has had the pleasure to work with include Florence and the Machine, The Saturdays, Gok Wan, Claudine Keane, Michael Flatley, Rosanna Davison and Ronan Keating to name but a few. ” (Source – www.misslili.net)

Faye Dinsmore (23) started modelling relatively late in life. She grew up in Donegal on a remote farm and is 1 of 14 children! She fell into modelling nearly by accident when one day in 2008 in Trinity College she went to give a friend support who was auditioning for a modelling job.  One of the people hiring the models that day told her she had to be a model.  And then it just spiralled! Faye moved to Paris in late 2010, after graduating from Trinity, where she signed with IMG, alongside top international models Gisele Bündchen and Heidi Klum. Faye has been the “Galaxy Chocolate Girl” and also is the new “Lynx” girl! She has also walked the catwalk for Couture shows.  If someone asked you who was the most popular Irish person on Facebook would be you would probably say someone like Colin Farrell or Ronan Keating, but with over 250,000 followers Faye is miles ahead!

It was so amazing to be part of a shoot with 2 of the best people in the industry.  Faye is an exceptional model and such a lovely person too, down to earth and grounded which I’m sure has attributed to her amazing success so far.  Lili is an absolute sweetheart to work with and since this shoot has photographed many of our other pieces for various publications.  Lili recently got married to her long-time love Ian.  All the girls at Alila wish Lili & Ian every happiness together.  As for Faye the world really is her Oyster and I have no doubt that we will see her gracing the covers of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar in the future.

Ali xxx

Lauren Conrad first hit our screens several years ago on MTV’s “Laguna Beach: The Real OC”.  She then went on to be the main star of MTV’s “The Hills” where we saw her intern at Teen Vogue and study Fashion Design.

Ali first came across the collection at a trade show in New York and was immediately drawn the collection not yet aware who the designer was!

We find her AW collection very versatile as you can add black tights and the Brooklyn Jacket to all the pieces for AW and then wear on their own for Spring and Summer.

Check out the dress below and click on the dress to the right to bring you to the store!

Happy shopping!

Ooh fancy! We made the Irish Times!

Just like every good boxer prepares for his or her next fight, everytime I travel with Ryanair I know I need to prepare for my next flight!

So I thought I’d share some of my tips with you so that the next time you are in the boarding queue and you see all those high vis jackets at the gate, your heart won’t start to beat rapidly, your palms won’t get so sweaty, you won’t tremble as you hand them your boarding pass and they say the magic words “please put your case in the cage” followed by “That will be €40/£40 Madam”.  (On another note I always find it so patronising how they call you Madam yet treat you like dirt!)

1. Be prepared. Know what you can bring on board. 1 bag only. 10Kg max weight

You can only bring one bag, so if you are not checking in a bag don’t assume that your small handbag and your small plastic bag of magazines is fine as they are still smaller than most carry-on bags.  It’s not.  If travelling with Ryanair it is so much easier to just always travel with the standard carry on size bag.  Don’t overfill it so that you know you can fit your handbag in it too when boarding. Don’t invest in one of this ridiculously small carry on bags that are the size of a childs school bag on wheels. They fit nothing and usually end up too wide for the dreaded “Blue Cage” even though they are half the maximum length.

10Kg is the max weight.  ”But sure they never weigh the bags at the boarding gate” you may say. WRONG!! I recently flew back from Glasgow Prestwick and not only were they checking that bags fit in the “Blue Cage” they also were weighing them!  My bag was 12.3Kg, so I had to get rid of 2.3Kg or pay £40.  So what did I do? I moved out of their line of site and opened up my bag.  This leads my to tip no. 2.

2. Always travel with pockets!

If you get caught out and your bag is too big or too heavy, pockets will save the day.

So there I am in Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the ‘High Vis Vultures’ after my £40.  I look in my bag and see what I can get rid of.  Nothing really.  So i take out my wallet which is actually kind of heavy as it is full of Boots, Dunnes, Bodyshop and other various loyalty cards, VHI, E111, AA membership cards and the like. Wallet goes into jeans back pocket.  Then I take out my make-up bag. I’m a girl, I need my make-up, and just cause I travel Ryanair does not mean I only bring foundation, mascara and eyeliner.  I pop this in my….SNOOD!! Ladies and gents a snood is genius for carrying extra things on board Ryanair! It is like a sling around your neck that can hold a bottle of water, a book, and in my case my make-up bag! I pop some other things in my pockets – book, perfume (under 100ml bottle of course!), bottle of water.  Now I am left with my Notebook Laptop.  I reckon they won’t let me carry it on so just in case I decide nowhere else to put it but tucked under my top and the back of my jeans! I pop my coat on, ask the lady beside me (who is in a similar situation and I am passing on tips) does it look bulky? She says no and off I go back to the High Vis Vultures.  I pop the bag on the scales – 9.1KG! Woohoo! The Ryanair Robot looks a little confused but lets me on my way.

3. Be determined

If you have taken out what you can and still are overweight or bag won’t fit sometimes the only other thing left to do bar paying the money is to literally put all your clothes in your case on.  Bear in mind the people in the queue are only going to cheer you on, not look at you strangely as they won’t want you to have to pay the extra money either!

4. Roll & Stuff!

At the end of the day us girls nearly always tend to overpack.  One great space saving tip is to roll your clothes and stuff smaller things into your shoes (there’s always going to be at least one extra pair in the bag!) and in the gaps the heels leave.  Rolling also doesn’t crease your clothes.

5. Don’t give them your credit card until you have exhausted all options!

Once I was getting another Ryanair flight and they told me to put my case in the “Blue Cage”.  I had travelled several times before with this case with Ryanair and it fit in no problem.  This time it wouldn’t fit and I am still convinced they have made the cages smaller as the dimensions of my case are what the cage says they should be.  Anyway I decide its too early to row and I take my handbag out of my case to get my credit card to pay them.  I hand the card to the High Vis Vulture and say “don’t charge it yet, let me try something else!” I turn my case upside down and pop it in the cage. One of the wheels had stopped it going in the first time.  She says “your handbag is not in it” so I pop my handbag back in the case and once again turn it upside down, and it fits in the Blue Cage, Voila! “I’m sorry I have already charged your card” says the Ryanair Robber.   Not only had she charged the card but this also meant that even though my case size was fine, because she had charged it, it had to go in the hold.  Hence – NEVER give them your credit card until you know you are defeated!

6. Bring Headphones!

Anyone who has ever travelled Ryanair knows that you don’t get a minutes silence on a Ryanair flight. There is the security announcement, the safety talk, then they tell you about the smokeless cigarettes, what papers they have for sale that day, what food is on offer, to pre-order hot food if you want it, duty free, the charity calendar and the bloody scratch cards.  That’s on top of the usual hen/stag party who are also on board. Bringing headphones and your iPhone/iPod/MP3 player means you may just be able to drown out the constant announcements for a while at least!

So there you go, hope they help you take on the High Vis Vultures, the Ryanair Robots and the bloody Blue Cage!

Ali xx

Once upon a timer there was a little girl called Ali. She loved to dress up in her Mum’s dresses and heels and lipstick and couldn’t wait to grow up so she could dress and look as fabulous as her Mum always did when she went out. Then one night Ali had a nightmare…

She went to a birthday party and 3 other girls had the same dress on!! Ali was horrified for the girls and vowed that this should never happen to her friends, or anyone else for that matter, ever again…

and so, Alila was created…

We have built up a reputation for our shoes over the years.  Alila prides itself on its shoe collection and labels.  When ordering each new season I work with the designers to customise each style, whether making the heel higher, adding a platform for comfort, including the signature pink sole, choosing the colour of the crystals, if it can be altered to make it more special we do it!

Our 2 main shoe brands are Suecomma Bonnie from South Korea and Veronesse from Romania.  Both are exclusive to Alila in Ireland.  With Veronesse we can have shoes custom made individually at a slight extra cost! We can order in from size 33 (yes 33!) and they can also be made in large sizes up to 44.

Below is a gallery of some of the press our shoes have received over the years!