Allison Lloyd

Allison Lloyd was born in 1956 in Hampton Court, Surrey, England. She spent her childhood in Southern Ireland and Tadcaster. It was at Tadcaster Grammar that she realized her design talent by making her own clothes and sometimes clothes for other children. In 1975, she met Jono Platt who remained her life and business partner for 23 years till 1998. They have a son born in the 1980's named Hamish Lloyd-Platt.

They moved to the South of England and joined the Middlesex Polytechnic College, together and both took degrees in fashion and textiles.

They set up a company which they called "Ally Capellino" in London in 1979. They thought that it was Italian for "little hat" and only later found out it meant "little head".

Allison worked for some time for the Courtauld Institute before starting her own concern. Ally Capellino originally sold hats, jewellery and accessories and started designing womenswear in 1980. She had started up in 1980, straight out from graduating from college, and offered her first collection in honour of the Moscow Olympics. The collections are presented in London, the first catwalk show was 1986. The first boutique was opened in 1988, in London.

In 1987 the firm signed a licensing contract with the GCO Company in Japan, which aimed to achieve optimum positioning of the label in terms of retail, public relations, and advertising exposure. This was followed, in 1988, by the opening of the Ally Capellino store in Soho, London, which developed into an emporium for clothing, childrenswear, and lifestyle items. She has launched several lines in the 1980's and 1990's, Menswear in 1986, Sports line called "Hearts of Oak" in 1990, Minimum Capellino, her children's line in 1991 a unisex range of t-shirts, in 1993 and her Difussion line in 1996. In 1997 she opened a new store in Chelsea, London.

In 1992 Ally Capellino signed an agreement with Coats Viyella, Britain's largest textile company, to promote and market their brand name and give them access to Coats Viyella's design and production facilities, among the most advanced in technological development in the world. In return Ally Capellino would bring a more fashion-oriented handwriting to the business through by acting as design consultants. This would, in turn, hopefully avert the criticism aimed at British clothing manufacturers for producing unadventurous products.

In 1999, she set up the Capellino Design ltd. and the same year launched her Accessories line of mens and womens bags and belts, which has been very successful.

Allison also lectures at the Royal College of Art, Ravensbourne College, the London College of Fashion and also at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, in London, passing on her expertise to stars of the future.

In the year 2000, the GirlGuiding UK body commission Ally Capellino to redesign the Girl Guide Uniforms, which turned out very well. Subsequently she also did new uniforms for the Brownies too.

Her new studio/showroom in Shoreditch was set up in 2002.

The "A for Ally Capellino" line of tailored separates, denim clothing, knitwear and evening gowns, is sold at Debenhams and 30 other up-scale Stores in the U.K. She also has licensing arrangements for her garments in Japan.

In November 2005, Ally opened a new shop at 9 Calvert Avenue, London E2. It was her 25th Anniversary of entering the fashion field.