DINNER SERVICE + NOVO AMOR: From Woodgate to Wales

“MY LEGS WONT GO WHERE MY HEAD WANTS” - Novo Amor

Since reimagining our purpose here at Dinner Service almost two years ago, we’ve set out to create garments that are the talk of the table. More often than not, these have been loud, colorful pieces full of expression and attached to big ideas that embody the charisma of our collaborators in material form. Metaphorically speaking, they’ve carried the energy of spring and summer—youthful, life-giving, and energetic. We’ve built a process with our partnerships and collaborators that allows us to create clothing representing a sliver of time, a fleeting moment, or a message that lends itself to what’s happening right now. Sometimes, as in the case of our latest collaborator, musician Ali Lacey (also known as Novo Amor), creation helps codify a season of change.

“I feel like an album is always—for any artist—just a marker, a timestamp of when it was created. A lot has changed for me in the three years since I released my previous album. [My new album,] Collapse List, speaks to my recognizing what needs to change in my life, from my location, my feelings towards making music, the nature of my relationships, and such.”

Hailing from Wales, Ali is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, sound designer, and producer. If you’ve listened to his music, you know there’s no shortage of beauty and intention in his work—qualities we revere here at Dinner Service. There’s a bittersweetness, an innocence, and an earnestness to his Novo Amor project. It carries a depth that makes us feel right at home as we approach the slower, more contemplative fall and winter seasons. As it turns out, serendipitously, we found out we shared some literal common ground with Lacey, who gained prominence ten years ago after the release of his debut record the Woodgate EP (named after some of our upstate neighbors).

“I spent a summer in Woodgate, New York, back in 2011, which I see as the birthplace of Novo Amor. My music was created with Woodgate feeling like an inherent backdrop to my early 20s. It’s a place that still inspires my music today. It’s romantic to me. My two solo EPs are, in a sense, a musical forgery of this place, both reflecting different views.”

If you didn’t know, Novo Amor is Portuguese for “new love.” The thing about new love—or anything new, really—is that it often only comes at the expense of the old… when we make space for fresh perspectives, new interests, new experiences, or the right people to come into our lives. Our society is doing everything it can to make you believe that things can last forever, but the truth is, that’s an impossible task. Here at Dinner Service, we believe the opposite. Whether it’s the materials we use in our clothing or the experiences we have with our friends, we believe that everything has a natural end. And it’s in our best interest—and the interest of our planet—that things abide by their natural seasons. And that we simply enjoy them. 

So here’s to remembering where we came from, but making space for where we’re going. To the ebb and flow of seasons. To enjoying and celebrating the lively moments and embracing the quiet, natural pause that fall and winter bring. Here’s to being open to whatever comes next, and being exactly who we are through it all.

Congrats on all your work, Ali, and all the best with what comes next.

The Novo Amor Collection is available now.

Dinner Service.