Cork designer 'blown away' that renowned designer used her gold knickers in perfume ad

A NOVEMBER day last year was just another working day for Ali Wheeler, who was busy checking the email orders for her business ‘Created by Ali’ in her atelier situated in the picturesque Spillers Lane in Clonakilty West Cork.

Ali’s enterprise is a one-woman show where she designs and makes clothing items including dry robes for the ever increasing and popular activity of sea swimming. During the pandemic she kept her business going by making beautiful silk masks, but one of her most iconic and sought after products is her line of bespoke lingerie including knickers and slips.

These have proven to be very popular for weddings and other special occasions, and what woman wouldn’t but cherish wearing underwear which had been specifically designed to fit the unique contours of her body?

So when Ali got the email order for seven pairs in all different sizes of her ‘Golden’ Paula Hot Knickers’ range, and all to be dispatched to Paris within just over two weeks of the order, she was intrigued about the request. It seemed very unusual to have an order for seven of the exact same pair in all different sizes, and also to have such a short time frame for delivery to France.

“This was a really unusual order, I had no idea who the client was and I needed to know more about the specifics,” recalled Ali.

“So I decided the best course of action was to ring Georgia, who had placed the order, to make sure that I had all the details.

“We were chatting away and she wanted them all to be the same gold knickers so I asked her if they were needed for a wedding, thinking that it might be a hen party or something like that, and when she said no - they were for a shoot for a perfume ad campaign for the new Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance Gaultier Divine - well, I nearly fainted on the spot!

I was absolutely blown away. I have been a massive fan of Jean Paul Gaultier’s work for years and I have always loved his creations. 

"I had studied fashion in the UK, and I also worked in the perfume department in the big department stores in London, Harrods and Selfridges, where we sold his perfumes in the gorgeous torso-shaped bottles,” said Ali.

“So the fact that his stylist had found my work online and liked it was just amazing, I felt so honoured.”

Gaultier is known as the ‘enfant terrible’ of French fashion with a style that is both playful and irreverent. Drawing his inspiration from street culture, he has constantly triggered new trends and was one of the first designers to steer away from featuring ‘conventional’ models to showcase his work, and instead chose plus-sized, older, pierced and tattooed models and played with traditional gender roles in his fashion shows and campaigns.

The Icelandic singer Björk modelled for him in 1994, and his designs have been worn by many other celebrities too including Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

“I always remember when he designed the incredible cone bra which was worn by Madonna in the 1990s,” recalled Ali, 

So I was walking around in a dream state after that phone call from Georgia, I couldn’t believe it, but I had to come back to earth pretty soon and get sewing to make sure that I got the order ready to go on time.

“My son had remarked to me not to be surprised if they might need extra, because on a fashion shoot, if anything happens to a garment such as something getting spilled on it, they might not have the time on set to get it cleaned, so having some spare ones on standby is the usual practise. Well, as sure as night follows day, I got another email requesting that I double the order. 

I really had my work cut out for me then, and had to put everything else on hold to get them all made and ready to go in such a short space of time. 

I put the closed sign on the door of my atelier, put my head down and set to work. I had quite a few long days of sewing ahead of me.

“Then the next challenge was to make sure that the postal service could be relied on to get the order over on time, and that’s where the absolutely wonderful Miriam Cuinnea in the Clonakilty Post Office became my guardian angel.

“She was an incredible and fantastic support to me and looked into the best way of sending them, and helped me to sort all of those details out.

“I was up to my eyes actually getting the order made and ready, so it was really a godsend having that kind of support. Miriam really went above and beyond her job. She tracked the package for me, and she even rang me on her own personal phone to let me know when they had arrived safe and sound in Paris - and most importantly, on time. Where would you get such a service?

“I am so grateful to live in a fantastic community like Clonakilty with such wonderful people working in the postal service. It makes a huge difference to the quality of life here for both individuals and local businesses to have such great support, I am forever grateful to Miriam for all she did for me.”

When Georgia, the stylist on the Jean Paul Gaultier shoot in Paris, opened the package from Clonakilty, she received several pairs of Ali’s produc,t the ‘Golden’ Paula Hot Knickers’ range.

So what was the original inspiration behind the range?

Ali explained that she had originally designed the knickers for her friend Paula, who had asked her if she could make some special underwear for a romantic date.

Afterwards, Ali asked her how the date went.

“The date was awful,” replied Paula, “but the knickers were amazing- can you make me six more pairs please?”

Although originally inspired to make them for a date that turned out not to be so great, little did Ali know when she first designed those dazzling knickers that they would prove to be a such a success, and that one day they would be worn by the beautiful model Tess McMillan for the Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance campaign Gaultier Divine.

Even as a child, Ali loved making things, and when she was five years old she once made a dress in her after- school activities class which turned out to be a life saver for another little classmate who had spilled something on her clothes and ended up wearing the little Ali the designer’s dress home that day.

The ad for the perfume Gaultier Divine can be currently seen on TV in all its golden glory, but for Ali it is back to business as usual, and she can be found in her atelier making items in time for Christmas.

She embraces the zeitgeist of minimum waste and is a big proponent of sustainability. She recently gave a workshop in UCC about the upcycling and repairing of denim with ‘Fash Forward’ and she even donates leftover scraps from her materials and fabrics to be used as cushion fillings for local schools and community groups. For Ali, this practise of zero waste in all that she creates is nothing new.

I have always been into sustainability. 

"In the 1980s we always used to re-use and repurpose our clothes, dyeing them, changing buttons, sewing on patches, cutting off sleeves.

“We bought second hand clothes and transformed them and upcycling was the order of the day. I have carried on this ethos into practise in all of my creations,” she said.

For more info, see ‘Created by Ali’ on insta.