LONDON FASHION WEEK AW12 FW12 PREVIEW: DOMINIC JONES

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

When Dominic Jones started out in 2009, he was a 23 year old with an inspiring talent and a brilliant idea that no one had thought of before. He wanted to create fine jewellery his generation could afford.  To that end he plated brass renditions of his sculptural work with gold and created punky-chic  fashion jewellery that was more affordable than its shiny golden exterior suggested.

Dominic Jones at his Dalston studio with a painting by flatmate Tom Campbell in the background and his collection of jaws and skulls on the racks beside him

Fast forward to today and Dom, now on his sixth collection, is an older, wiser person and also a wildly successful young designer who has built an excellent business with global stockists - net-a-porter.com is his biggest retail customer - and a dedicated fan base of cool women and men of all ages. "I've cracked Europe, Japan, Italy and my next step is the States," he says. He has new projects too; a diffusion line "DJ" is due to launch next month, and in September he will debut a collaborative collection with Lady Amanda Harlech. Wow.

Polishing up the samples

I'm over at his Dalston studio which he shares with the two Toms: Tom Campbell, a painter who is in the only light-filled area of this basement apartment, and Tom Beard, a photographer and film maker who regularly works with Florence + the Machine. So how did he get from there to here? "Its funny, I have learnt my market now and it is not the customer I originally thought it would be," he says. "The woman I'm selling to is more like you - (he means a thirty-something career woman) - than Alice (he means Alice Dellal, the young punky model who gave him the seed money to get his business started)."

So, now onto the new collection for Fall/Winter or Autumn/Winter, which goes on show at lunchtime today alongside a short film by Rafael Diallo starring Jessica Brown Finlay (Lady Sybil, from Downton, no less). This is significant,  because also this morning a new jewellery initiative launches at London Fashion Week named Rock Vault, and Mr Jones is not taking part. Why? Dominic has made the decision to be a fashion jeweller; he wants to create two collections a year alongside the clothing collections, and show them at the London Fashion Week shows. "I was the first jeweller on the London Fashion Week schedule, and I'm proud of that."

Dominic Jones AW/FW12 moodboard

So what's the story for the Autumn/Fall range? Dominic works with his hands and his heart. He is not one to spout words to deliver meaning or inspiration. A glance up on the walls of his studio tells one story. I see ancient images of Indian jewellery; Islamic Art, gnarled golden horns, spiralled antlers and Moorish architecture. Then I spot some new ink on the designers forearm.  Its a narwhal, one of those incredible whales with a spear  (well, actually a corkscrew shaped long tooth) for a nose. "My favourite film when I was a kid was "When The Whales Came", he says by way of explanation. Sure enough one of the spiral horn rings (worn between the fingers) closely resembles the narwhal tooth.

Dom's latest tattoo, the narwhal inspired by his favourite childhood film "When the Whales Came"

"I'm loathe to mention specific references because in the end the work is more organic," he says. "I free form each piece by sculpting it in wax, I make it up as a go along." The tiny wax sculptures he shows me are beautiful; little works of art that instantly tell you they are by Dominic Jones.

A section of the Fall/Autumn Winter 2012 range by Dominic Jones

From these miniatures develops the collection, which for the Fall/Winter 2012 season includes crenellated miniature dome rings and matching earrings; Moorish graphics transposed into pendants, grooved horn rings and simpler corkscrew spiral bands. Making a return, albeit in spikier form, are his mini daggers that serve as pendants and dangle from fine chained necklaces. Just looking at it is enough to make me want several pieces, and I'm sure I am not alone in this.

Dominic Jones is available at www.net-a-porter.com
Dominic Jones shows his collection and film today at The Library, Two Temple Place, London WC2.


ALL PHOTOGRAPHS, COPYRIGHT: FASHION EDITOR AT LARGE

ADVENT DAY SIX: DOMINUS DOMINIC

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large


Dangling Cross earrings, £230, made from 23 carat gold plated brass. At Net-a-Porter

 I adore Dominic Jones and his jewellery. I've known him since he's started out and remember really clearly being at the launch of the milliner Steven Jones' perfume for Comme des Garcons at Dover Street Market in 2009 and chatting with a boy who dyed his hair grey who was telling me all about how he wanted to make designer jewellery accessible to his own age group by using non-precious metals as a base. That was the beginning of my friendship with the talented Mr Jones, who I swiftly put on the pages of Grazia. Probably a bit too swiftly, as the shops he had sold to hadn't taken delivery of his talon earrings and claw rings thast became an instant hit. It has all turned out really well. Dom is an original talent and his creative output has improved season on season. These "Dangling Cross" earrings are edgily beautiful, and I sincerely hope they will be dangling from my lobes on Christmas day, The relevant family member has been informed!

"We can play it safe, or play it cool, follow the leader, or make up all the rules, whatever you want, the choice is yours, so choose.." Beth Ditto, The Gossip, from "Music For Men" Track 1: Heavy Cross



This is Dominic's Autumn/fall Winter 2011 fashion film, starring his old friend Florence Welch.

SWAROVSKI LFW PREVIEW: DOMINIC JONES

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Me and Dominic Jones

I was lucky enough to be the first journalist on a high circulation magazine to cover the talent that is Dominic Jones. I'll never forget meeting him at Dover Street Market on the night Stephen Jones launched his perfume in collaboration with Comme des Gardons. Dominic told me his plan for a jewellery collection that "has the look of fine jewellery, but is in fact gold-plated to a deeper degree than usual gold plating, thus giving it a more luxurious look."

He said he wanted his peers to be able to afford high-end jewellery. It was a blindingly good idea from the start and with Dominic's charm, talent for sculpture, eye for what cool kids want from their jewellery, and backing from his close friend Alice Dellal he was always going to do alright. And he has. We are now two years down the line, and selling through Net-a-Porter means he can relax on  the cash-flow front and get on with working.

Dominic's incredibly strong SS11 collection

SS11 INSPIRATIONS

"My last two collections were quite literal. The first was inspired by fangs, then the second was based on skulls and beetles. This time I developed the collection from two sculptures I created in miniature. I played with their proportions to recreate different parts of them as jewellery. At the NEWGEN area at LFW I will be displaying two meter high versions of the sculptures made from jesmonite and polystyrene."

"My reference points were the sculpture of Barbara Hepworth, Art Deco and the rest came from me. I love working and through the process the shapes came out. Making is what I love doing most.  I used Swarovskis even though they don't officially sponsor me. Though there is talk of me working on the Atelier range, which would be very exciting as working with crystals is second nature. This is my most instinctive collection, and I am so proud of it."

ALICE DELLAL AND DOM JONES ASKED ME TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU..

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DOMINIC JONES SCARES ME IN A GOOD WAY FOR LFW

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Alice Dellal and Dominic Jones

A year and a half ago up-and-coming British jeweller Dominic Jones was living in the notorious London squat known as "Squallyoaks" because he said "there was more drama there in one week than the omnibus of Hollyoaks". Then he came up with a jewellery range of high-end looking fierce pieces made using gold plate ten times thicker than the usual, but with an affordable heart. His idea was to create jewellery that his generation could afford and not just love from afar. I remember meeting him at a Dover Street Market party to launch Stephen Jones perfume, and being impressed by both his grey/blue hair (he is definitively ahead of the fashion curve), his endearing manner and his clear talent; he was wearing his own instantly covetable fang jewellery. He set up his business with funding from the punky model Alice Dellal, one of his best friends, and his first season saw his jewellery go global. Then Anna Wintour came knocking; then he got NewGen sponsorship.

Could he sustain the hype for his second collection? This is the all important question with any young designer, and having seen his new collection go from an idea he told me about over coffee in my Paris hotel last season, "I'm thinking about skulls," I can say he is moving steadily in the right direction! Here is an exclusive preview of his Autumn/Winter collection.

The "Vampire Bat Skull Heart Pendant" by Dominic Jones for AW10

The new collection is both beautiful and challenging inspired as it is by skulls, scorpions and beetles. "You would run a mile from these things in real life, they are pretty intimidating, but I hope I have made them desirable," says Dom. The model shown is 15 year old Daphne, who is represented by Union. The Dutch girl is already a hot property and has been modelling for just one month. She won't be allowed to walk for a catwalk show until she is 16.  The "Vampire Bat Skull Heart Pendant," was initially created by fusing two anatomically correct and to scale Vampire Bat skulls. We will bring the rest of the collection to you on Saturday.  Thanks for the preview Dom! Good luck (you won't need it). FEAL xxx

Image: by Aitken Jolly
Styling: Francesca Burns
Photo of Dominic and Alice from http://weblog.brownsfashion.com/