We Can’t Get Mrs Jones out of our Head!

Creak creak creak, up the stairs to Mrs Jones’ studio/showroom/possible shop. Tucked away near the Fabric nightclub side of Farringdon, and upstairs from creator of Sleaze Nation, Jon Swinstead’s company Think Espionage (It turns out the two are now business partners).

Anyway. The studio is an absolute marvel, bedecked with low slung rock and roll furniture, a chaise longue, coffee table, black and white chess board floor and tiny doggy – Betty, who runs around grasping visitors’ clothes as well as the yards and yards of pop memorabilia merchandise between her small, snappy teeth.
Mrs Jones, (Fee Doran on her passport) takes me on a guided tour of the racks – “This was for The Killers, this came back from the Scissor Sisters, these [trousers] were made for Justin out of the Darkness. It’s a patchwork of girls’ pants. We appealed for girls to send in lots of knickers – we specified clean ones, though we still went through the bags with rubber gloves on!”
The show room is STUFFED with clothes, some from her archive of bespoke pieces for the worlds most outré pop stars over the years, plus pieces of jewellery or hand decorated t shirts from other designers who Mrs Jones has befriended or collaborated with in the past.
Most infamously she created the slashed-leg white hooded catsuit that Kylie wore for her phenomenal smash ‘Can’t get you out of my Head’ but was also responsible for Duran Duran before that and currently she’s making outfits for the likes of Rihanna, Florence Welch, Gaga, and Paloma Faith. In short it’s more often than not Fee who’s behind the popstrels who either keep alive or elevate the tradition of fantasy in pop. She’s the one making real the imaginings of the performers who regard the visuals to be as crucial to the end product as the sound of the music.

And so to her current collection. It’s called ‘Backstage’ (previous Mrs Jones creations have been named ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘White Noise’) either way, she’s not changed her USP over the years. Freely admitting to neither to be influenced by or an influence on seasonal trends she’s confident in her signature look and abilities. Neither does she create stylish yet practical workwear for the discerning modern exec. The best way to describe Mrs Jones’ pieces are seventies psychedelia, Grace Jones sex-power and eighties excess combined through the kaleidoscope of the Mighty Boosh or Mr Benn. Relying heavily on customised jumble sale finds, embellishments in the form of feathers, sequins and old school patchwork, each piece carries with it a whiff of magic from the performers to have worn it. Which brings us onto her shop, well, showroom really; “My dream has always been to have a sort of transformation space. A place where ordinary people can come, look around, and I’d revamp them in the style of Mr Benn. They’d come in all normal and leave glammed up and sparkling like a rock star” The space already looks tremendous, and is due to be further decorated. “Oh, I keep bringing in more stuff. By the time it’s finished it’ll have all sorts of things hanging from the ceiling, just like Mr Benn’s shop and even more art. We’re going to have a hairdresser’s salon through there [indicating a stairwell to another floor] she’s fantastic, she’s called Vicky Drama and its going to be the drama parlour” She’s single minded, unaffected by hype, and fuelled solely by her imagination, rather than a desire for fame or glory. Now Mrs Jones is ready to share it with the public, so what are you waiting for?

Mrs Jones’s showroom is at 71 St John St, Farringdon EC1M 4NJ and her showroom will be open from June 8th onwards.

She talks me through her modus operandi for styling (although really, she’s not a stylist, she’s a costume designer) a new pop client. “Before I start putting any ideas in their head I’ll start asking them what sort of films they like, who are their heroes, get them going on about their own fantasies and then I try and translate that into clothes” Tell me about Kylie, I plead. And, looking me in the eye, with not so much as a flicker of drama or pretentiousness, Mrs Jones tells me about dressing Kylie Minogue in one of the most iconic pop videos of all time, how Miss Minogue used to bounce Mrs Jones baby son on her knee and how it all fell apart. “William Baker was her stylist at the time. He began to get a bit sniffy around me as soon as my costumes were the real focus and after a couple of near-tantrums on the sets of her videos, during which I’d appeal to the director to overrule him on how he wanted to style the outfits, and that was it.” She’s pretty philosophical though. Oh, I’ve had far worse experiences in the fashion biz. That’s why I don’t show at London Fashion week, don’t produce two collections a year, don’t work for a big company either. I just keep myself to myself, carry on working all the time – I mean this year is supposed to be my ‘big comeback’ but I’ve never really been away, I’m always working, doing alright for myself.” Nor would you ever catch her buttering up key figures in the fashion establishment “I used to meet friends, other designers who’d be like, oh I’ve been hanging out with Katie Grand and she’s going to use my stuff in a shoot. WHAT? Sucking up to important people was complete and utter anathema to me. Like, HOW COULD you? But sure enough, you’d open a magazine and there would be the stuff. Unbelievable”

Ed De Lacy and his Bags Of Joy

Wherever Shirley goes, come sun or rain, we hoist our favourite bag over our shoulder and mince off with a jingle of chains. Yep – the fabulous red leather number bearing the glorious white Shirley insignia never passes by unnoticed. If you’re of two minds as to whether a personalised bag with your name in huge letters is really the thing for you – then I urge you to think again! Its by far the best thing that’s happened this spring.

Oh yes, not that we let such the trends really bother us, there is a discernible varsity vibe to the finished article, its like a portable version of a classic Americana baseball jacket, emblazoned with the best girl’s name there is. The bag itself is the handiwork of bag designer extraordinaire, Ed De Lacy.

Just like the chant in West Side Story; “round and round she goes, where she’ll end up, nobody knows” Ed De Lacy is very much an enigma (wrapped in a conundrum). Very little of his origins can be traced on google, we don’t even know if that’s his real name, or whether it conceals a birth certificate as horrific as that of Elton John’s (nee Reginald Kenneth Dwight). We don’t know where he lives, how old he is and whether his eyes are blond or blue (his facebook page was a mass of handbags and left no other clue) what we do know is this;

He lovingly creates desirable one-off bags in leather suede and ponyskin either artfully crumpled and crushed in the sloppiest most perfect hobo shapes or the glam, metallic and bright beauties to clutch or dangle from a sexy shoulder or wrist. Although he’s not one to blow his own trumpet, he did admit that on Esty.com – his main stockist, he can receive feedback from customers. Among it features the kind of gushing fan mail to make any designer blush, including odes of praise from his regular clients, who’ll obsessively collect his different pieces and swear that they are faithful to him and him alone, spurning all other bags after, as it were, the De Lacy models came into their world.

Well, if you can get a handcrafted leather beauty with a printed silk lining, personalised not only with your name, but in your very individual font, wouldn’t you start to view off-the-peg-bags with a lesser degree of respect as well?

GET YOURSELF A HANDCRAFTED BAG OF JOY FROM - WWW.DELACYONLINE.ETSY.COM

Jonathan Saunders – Jonny and the block (colours)

“Oh, you’ll LOVE Jonny Saunders”, simper the fashion editors when they hear who I’m off to interview today. “We looooooove Jonathan. He’s so good looking, – he’s one of those people who make you think – ‘If only you were straight’ you know, “ Well, I’m not sure that a change of sexuality would affect my chances with Mr Saunders, who is indeed extremely dashing. He seems far to self-possessed to be the sort to take up with a cheeky journalist after a fifteen minute grilling about his new e-commerce website – whatever his preferences.

I think what my colleague meant was – you must bear in mind that he’s gay because a) he’s unfeasibly fit and charming and b) not camp in the slightest so just don’t get your knickers in a twist. Chuh! I don’t need any warning, I’m extremely professional.

In person, Jonathan is fizzing with energy and full of off the record gossip – he thrillingly slags off Victoria Beckham “Uh – she comes round here, with her skinny legs . . . she’s always looking out for things to pinch. She’s stolen my production manager and my best machinist” *GASP*

Stolen them? What for?

“Well, to go off and work for her brand. Two of my best members of staff! Blog it! blog it, spread it round!”

We begin discussing Jonathan’s latest venture – an internet shop, selling a specific range based of various seasons of his designs and all lending themselves to a mail-order shop. Silky printed t shirts, t shirt and vest dresses, fine cashmere knits (printed of course) and exquisite printed scarves. All the pieces are in a delicious blossom and watercolour palette, just the right side of girly, and the price point is an attractive one. £165 for a vest dress for example.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for a designer like me to be able to open an internet venture like this, where I can deal directly with my customers. Opening a conventional shop has so many overheads its not even feasible for many smaller designers”

What do you think of the internet in general, Jonathan? Are you a freaky geek or do you prefer to keep your interactions confined to the real world?

“I find the internet very useful for practical things – you know. I might buy things on Amazon, book tickets, or even buy clothes but I’m not one for ‘social networking’. I don’t twitter, I don’t facebook. I’m a bit behind in that sense”.

Are you really behind, or do you actually find it annoying?

“Yes. To be honest I do find it annoying. It’s not really my style; I’d rather keep that stuff back to myself rather than have to broadcast every tiny thought”

I am beginning to LOVE Jonathan, and not just for the designer stubble I was forewarned about – he seems to effortlessly avoid any fashion cliché, like I said he’s straight talking (not in the euphemistic-meaning-rude sense of the word, but just straight talking) and not affected. He takes his work very seriously – and steers the conversation onto it at every question, but without taking himself too seriously.

He’s got that ever so slightly impatient manner that extra intelligent people often have, and after all the fashion biz isn’t known for its surplus of high IQ types – anyway you get the feeling he’s in control of most situations and could tailor his charm to more than one level.

His designs reflect this; sharp, sporty clothes that girls want to wear, and can do pretty much anything in, once they’ve slipped them on. Colourful, yep yep yep yep – modern uhup, and sexy – he made his name with his colour blocked body con dresses. His latest collection – AW10, branches out deftly from the nifty tighty tight dresses of his earlier collections. Coats – delicious flappy parkas and others with sporty details all appeal since fashion took a turn for the utilitarian this season. Now women everywhere are thinking of how many outings perfect outerwear will notch up even compared to a dream dress . . . and deciding where to outlay the most cash. So: that’s what I think of Jonny Saunders; perfect looking but pretty practical too, just like the clothes he makes.

GET YOUR OWN PERFECT, PRETTY, PRACTICAL PIECE FROM – WWW.JONATHAN-SAUNDERS.COM

Ooh Naugh-tee!

Miss Jacqueline White’s range of appliquéd, embroidered slogan tee shirts are attracting plenty of attention and well they might, as a back story to a fashion collection is rarely as hilarious and strangely poignant as this one. Frustrated by the non committal and occasionally offensive post coital pillow talk from her and her girl friends’ lovers, Miss White took matters into her own hands and combined her burgeoning ideas for a collection with a particularly artistic brand of revenge on the underwhelming men.

Jacqueline trained as a fashion designer at Brighton University and followed up with a range of impressively quirky and intriguing posts in all areas of the biz. Working for cult conceptual fashion brand Bless in Paris – “They totally blew my mind and made me think about fashion from a completely different perspective”, designing textiles for Tim Camino in Milan, teaching sewing at Kingston and Westminster then worked in TV as a stylist including the BBC comedy department. The t-shirts came about after “a drunken conversation one night in my kitchen. I was showing a friend the patchwork, embroidered garments I worked on at Tim Camino. That was such a crazy company to work for. The concept behind the brand was that there was this little boy called Tim who came from a poor family who had to make all their own clothes out of scraps they found – like the borrowers. They got me use cartoon characters as motifs – like Power Puff Girls or Penelope Pitstop (which was my idea). We decided to make use of some of the techniques I’d learned there, but instead of cartoons for kids wear, we’d make beautiful, feminine illustrations for a women’s wear range. I started watching a lot of ‘70s porn films; – in those days they were real women, not all bleached blonde and fake tits, and drawing the women’s faces freeze framed at the moment of ecstasy” The slogans (plus a brief place and date for each one) were inspired by her real life dating disasters, each recreated verbatim in a delicate embroidered font. “All the boys who ended up having their quotes used all know that this has happened – AND they all love it! They think they’re famous!” As for the inevitable question: has her luck changed since she took this rather drastic step to let the male population know just how dreadfully they come across to girls at times? Well, you know it’s not done any harm actually”. Jacqueline giggles coyly. “I managed to get together with one of the male models at the launch party, ha ha.” Really – your habit of immortalising private moments on your designs didn’t put him off? “He said to me; ‘You had to pull somebody tonight – you were Queen Of The Night!’” Ah that’s so sweet! I replied, and it also has quite a ring to it – another possible slogan for a top? I ventured. “Oh no”, Jacqueline chipped in, that’s far too nice. I really need horrible ones to use in my work.

GET YOURSELF A BEAUTIFUL RUDE TEE FROM - WWW.MISSJACQUELINEWHITE.COM

‘Mmmm . . . Goodone in a Mill’

“I’ve never wanted to design things exclusively for really rich people. Even when I was at college I knew I wanted to make clothes for myself and girls like me; fun sexy dresses that you want to wear and that give you that bit of a strut in your step. It’s very important that the clothes are affordable, even though my margins are tiny – I make hardly any money at the prices they are” Says Nin Castle, of her recycled fashion brand, Goodone.

Mention the name ‘Goodone’ to people and not many know the brand. Show them a garment though; – the stretchy, sexy colourful pieces and you’re on safe ground. Everyone wants a Goodone dress, you see them all over East London. Nin doesn’t know whether it’s positive or negative that people sometimes compare her work to American Apparel (or “a better version of AA”, ha ha) and that’s before you’ve even heard the little back story of how the cute outfits come to be. The story begins at the seaside. Nin studied fashion at Brighton where she began to fixate on ‘the ethical side of things’ – and ended up completing her dissertation on “Fashion Ethics and Social Responsibility” after which she explains, – I couldn’t go back to the way you’re expected to do things. For my final collection I got sponsorship from Japanese and American firms and used entirely organic fabrics. But the thing is, organic fabric might sound better but the amount of water it requires to be produced is phenomenal – it’s not really environmentally sound”.

80s label – I Dream of Wires

As style icons go, there’s simply no arguing with Joanie. Love her or fear her, at least you know where you stand with La Collins. As Lou Winwood tells us . . .

“OH yes, darling, you can barely make it from the gates to the front door what with all the llamas and flamingos running around”, says Lou of her country house lifestyle before going on to name check Ms Collins at least 3 times in a 40 minute natter. We’re speaking on the phone because she had her second baby only a couple of weeks ago, and she’s taking time away from her extravagant 80’s boutique I Dream Of Wires on Cheshire St to bond with the infant and put her leopard skin stiletto shod feet up. The shop is the third phase in Lou’s fashion career. Fresh out of college (LCF) she became a fashion journalist and stylist for The Guardian, The Independent and i-D among others. Then she put the writing on hold to concentrate on styling the likes of Amy Winehouse, The Manic Street Preachers and, more recently, Pixie Lott. The boutique itself has been operational since 2006 and most recently has spawned its own range of 80s inspired delights. “It’s the scariest thing ever, as a stylist who’s not trained in sewing or pattern cutting – it’s like a barrier you have to get over. But in the shop, we had more and more 80s fabric coming in, so we sourced some cool patterns, adapted them and started running things up. My partner, Pete [Voss, frontman of Campag Velocet & The Count] loves designing really classic looking menswear, whereas my fantasy outfits are based on something more like Joan Collins or the girls from the Human League” The outfits themselves are simple in cut, like hip-hop harems and high waisted jumpsuits and my favourite, a 40’s inspired WRENS’ hat but adventurous in their use of shiny metallic and fresh 80’s print textiles. “Since we’ve started producing own label we’re gaining confidence and the next collection is going to be more coherent, and that’ll be out for A/W 10, in January, February time. The next step for us is a proper online shop, which will accompany the bricks and mortar shop for the moment, and maybe even replace it eventually”. What is it about the 80s that just won’t go away in Winwood world? It’s the era when I came of age and started going out, and I think that informs your taste so strongly. My dad was in the music industry (WHAT? He was Steve Winwood of Fleetwood Mac no less) and my Mum was incredibly glamorous – fur coats, great colourful handbags and shoes and I’ve always been shameless about rooting through people’s cupboards to source vintage clothes. People would come up to me at fashion events where I’d be all done up like Joan, and ask me; ‘Did you nick that off your Mum?’ However I do remember one occasion, I think at New York fashion week where I was wearing this amazing lace dress I’d picked up for literally pennies at a thrift store in New Jersey and people were constantly saying ‘Where did you get that dress? Is it Balenciaga?’ I had to put them right on that one.” If further proof were required that inventing your own style rather than pandering to trends will always pay off, then there you have it.

NAOMI ATTWOOD