Hi! Happy December! A handful of you are new here, so I thought I’d quickly introduce myself and À La Carte. If you’ve been around a while and know the whole spiel already, feel free to skip ahead!
I’m Ali LaBelle, a creative director living and working in LA. I run a small creative studio called Ali LaBelle Creative where I build brand identities and consult with clients on their creative strategy (among other things). My passion is really for taking a great narrative and turning it into something visually beautiful, and I do that with a roster of designers, writers, photographers, and more that work with me to bring it to life.
I’m definitely a collector: of books, of fun facts, of perfect sweaters, of historical references, of antique furniture…of pretty much everything. After years and years of being on Instagram and watching it evolve from an editorial space to a marketing platform, I was looking for ways to share it all that don’t require me to film videos to trending songs. I started writing À La Carte last February and it quickly became a place to do just that.
I kicked off the newsletter by keeping it simple: each week I shared a creative suggestion, a personal recommendation, and an artist I love. It’s since grown to include all sorts of things: elaborations of the mood boards I make, themed shopping round-ups, interviews, essays on creativity, and more. I want ÀLC to be a place where you come to get inspired, whether that means you’re inspired to think more intentionally about your creativity or you’re inspired to tie ribbons all over your Christmas tree. I think this is just as much for creatives by trade as it is for creative enthusiasts; it’s for anyone who wants to fill their brain and home and closet and Pinterest boards with beautiful things.
I’m trying something new for this first newsletter of the month, sort of an expansion of my initial concept, but maybe a little more fun? I don’t know. Let’s just get into it!
Book on my nightstand: I have two: The Jolliest Bunch by Danny Pellegrino and Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. Two very different vibes. I haven’t started either but Danny’s book is literally about Christmas so I feel like I better get to it soon!!! I’ve been only okay at reading consistently this year, but I always seem to pick my habit back up in the dead days between Christmas and New Years. Open to any book recs that are easy to zoom through but are also really good!
Something I bought recently: This festive little bag from J. Crew. I’m not really a sequin girl but I wanted something I could wear to fun dinners or parties with my usual gray sweater and denim uniform. I think it does the trick.
House I wish was mine: This cottage in southern England by Victoria von Westenholz. I absolutely LOVE the play room, which has a big folksy table in the center that the kids of the house can play and draw at. And of course, the living room is like, a wonderland of mixed textiles and ornate details. Imagine it at Christmas!!!!
What I’m eating: I’ve been off cooking lately—I don’t know why—so my at-home meals have been mostly pieces of cheese and handfuls of pistachios and dry cereal and air-fried vegetables. I did go to Café Telegrama yesterday, though, and it’s already a new favorite. I’m pretty annoyed that they opened near my old apartment a year after I left it (as did Cookbook and 500 other good things), but it’s a good place to work from that gets me out of my routine. Their Italian sister restaurant, Ètra, opens in a few days and I already have my reservation booked.
Currently working on: So much of what is in process is hard to share thanks to very long timelines, which is why it always feels like a bit of a mystery about what I do, but I want to get better at talking about work stuff! Right now I’m consulting and doing a brand expansion for a super romantic, vintage-inspired apparel brand—I’ll hopefully be able to show more of that soon. I’m also working on the branding for an interior design studio and starting to think about what’s next for Pasta Girlfriend (including dinners, product, and finally—hopefully—a website). Next month I start two new identity projects I’m reallyyy excited about!
Artist to know: Chantal Joffe. An American-born English artist, Joffe paints large-scale portraits that I just love. Her subjects are usually women or girls (or herself—her self-portraits are my favorite.) She isn’t on Instagram as far as I can tell, but you can read more about her here or here.
A thing I’m looking forward to: For the last few days Flamingo Estate has been teasing images of a life-size gingerbread replica of their iconic kitchen that they’re building in collaboration with Mytheresa. By the time this goes out I think it’ll be open to the public, and I’m pretty sure you can like, walk inside??? And shop in it??? It looks amazing and I can’t wait to see it for myself. Visit it in Highland Park if you’re in LA.
I’ve got a book-centric gift guide in the works — it will go out to paid subs in a few days, so upgrade if you’d like!
x
Ali
In case you missed it:
I’ve made three gift guides so far: gifts under $50, gifts for someone who likes the same stuff I do, and gifts that are made by and support artists.
I wrapped up November with the month’s Specials, or 15 things I’m thinking about, buying, reading, etc.
Artist and art director Marianna Fierro was last month’s At The Table With guest!
ALERT: the bag I linked is half off today!!! HALF
Omg that cottage!!! Every room is perfect.