Gary Alston was born in London, and from infancy, displayed an artistic talent. This eventually led to him winning - at the age of 11 - a scholarship to the well known boys public school Charterhouse in Godalming Surrey. In fact, Gary passed this by, and instead, at the age of sixteen, undertook a Junior Design course, followed by a Foundation year in art and design, and then four years in Fashion. He attended London's famed and highly prestigious Central St Martin's School Of Art & Design
where his fellow students in the fashion school included John Galliano, Corrine Drewery of pop band 'Swing Out Sister', and Tomasz Starzewski.Gary graduated with
a First in fashion design/Illustration.
Early work post-St Martin's included time at Jaeger and Next (then in its infancy), plus lots of freelance work which encompassed everything from Womenswear, Menswear, and Childrenswear design, through to fashion illustration work for magazines and trend consultancies,
which involved attending the Paris catwalk shows.
Gary was part of the
art school club scene at the dawn of the 1980s, and was often to be seen at Clubs such as "Blitz"
"Le Beat Route" (Immortalised by Spandau Ballet in "Chant No. 1"), "Le Kilt","The Embassy", "Club For Heroes", and the "Camden Palace".
This led to more
fashion opportunities, including participation in club fashion shows, and a featured collection in one of the youth trend magazines of the day New Sounds, New Styles.
In November 1985 Gary set up his own business under the Gary Alston London label. He sold his own ready-to-wear Menswear collections in Kings Road Chelsea boutiques; but it was in 1986 that he finally found his niche with couture dressmaking.
Clients have included the Aristocracy in England, and in continental Europe (Denmark), celebrities, ladies who lunch, business executives, fashion models, and pop stars.
His ballgowns have appeared at Queen Margarethe of Denmark's Ball and the Queen Charlotte's Ball .He has also designed many outfits for other events in "The London Season", including Royal Ascot,
Glyndebourne, The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Cartier Gold Cup (Polo), and Henley Regatta.
In 1992 he was commissioned by Mary Spillane (Managing director of CMB image consultants, Europe's first image and style consultancy) to create her outfits for the Chrysalis video release Discover Your colours, followed by outfits for her various TV and book signings.
Gary's love for fashion dolls began in the early sixties, when he saw a Bubblecut Barbie in a TV advertisement, wearing Solo In The Spotlight. Four years later, in 1967, he bought his first Bubblecut for 21 shillings, an Imperial British currency, now defunct! In 1994 he discovered the world of adult fashion doll collecting when he joined The Barbie Collectors Club Of Great Britain. For five years he wrote and provided a steady stream of articles and artwork for the club newsletter; plus carried out several radio interviews sponsored by Mattel UK, including the BBC's Radio 5 Broadcast Shelf Lives on Barbie doll collecting. In addition, he worked on his friend Chloe Gambell's collectors newsletter High Heels, a magazine focusing on Vintage and Retro style dolls."High Heels" has now become an "ezine", which Gary continues to write
for.
December 1997 provided a watershed in Gary's fashion doll collecting. He finally bought, after much prevaricating, his first Gene Marshall doll, Sparkling Seduction. Then, in 1999, he was unofficially adopted by the Bradford Group UK to provide advice and collector opinions on what was then the debut launch of Gene in the UK.
In March 2000, Gary met with Mel Odom and Joan Greene at the Bradford HQ in Richmond Surrey, where they viewed his Gene collection. Mel currently owns one of Gary's designs in his personal collection - a Hello Hollywood Hello Gene wearing an ensemble titled London Bridge
by House Of Retro.Mel and Gary subsequently became friends, and he was pleased to have written the Gene tenth anniversary article "Stairway to The Stars" for Haute Doll magazine in 2005.
The House Of Retro website debuted on April 25th 2002, and has been a wildly successful venture.
Gary enjoys working with a variety of current fashion dolls, including Tyler Wentworth, Sydney Chase, Gene Marshall and Madra lord, Fashion Royalty, and Fashion Model Silkstone Barbie.He also designs periodically for CED, and his beloved vintage Barbie.
In May 2002, Gary's work was featured in the UK issue of Doll magazine (May 2002, issue 55) from Ashdown Publishing; he went on to become one of their staff writers, regularly contributing
articles about fashion dolls for four years.
Christmas 2002 saw Gary feature in two British TELEVISION appearances .In " I Love Toys" for the BBC
, he talks about his first love - Barbie, and arranges for her to receive a makeover from tv celebrities
Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine.In"R.I.P. 2002" , Gary appears in a tribute to Ruth Handler and Barbie for Channel 4 .
In 2003 Gary and The House Of Retro consolidated on previous success.He was appointed a Staff Writer for the new fashion doll collectors magazine Haute Doll .His debut feature entitled "Avenue de Couture" was an eight page tribute to
1960s couture featuring the Fashion Royalty dolls.Also in 2003, Gary began working as the exclusive house designer for MILOU, an exciting new concept in the world of dollmaking from Wendy Roper and her company Mannequins de la Mode.
Milou - a 'Fashion Mannequin', is finally set to debut in the fashion doll marketplace in spring 2007.
On November 7th 2003 Gary enjoyed his first magazine COVER when Parisienne Sydney Chase from the Tonner Doll company appeared in
"Walking On Cloud Nine" - a classic beaded House Of Retro gown on the Christmas cover of "Doll"!
In April 2004 Gary launched his exciting new menswear label 'IDOL' at the House Of Retro website.
The debut collection utilising fabrics by Giorgio Armani and Pierre Cardin sold out immediately!
He also gave an interview to Italian language magazine Speak Up! about Barbie, both in cd and magazine form.
In May he achieved his second 'Doll' cover with Lord Piers Prince-Templeton and the Sirens.In November 2004 his designs for Tyler Wentworth and Sydney Chase
were featured in "High Style 2" magazine from Reverie Publishing.Gary is currently utilising his talents to diversify into other areas of interest -
watch this space!
Acknowledgements
This website is dedicated to my beloved parents & family, with special thanks to all my friends.
