Dominic Jones is pretty dark. That is, the jewelry designed by Jones, who launched his eponymous line this year, is both pretty, and upon inspection, quite dark. Take his knuckle-duster ring—the fluid line pushes back on the brutishness of the knuckle-duster concept, but a closer look reveals a different kind of viciousness in the talons pulled out of each end. “My strategy is usually to take something threatening and refine it into this elegant thing,” explains Jones, who is presenting his range for the first time tomorrow as part of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN program, sponsored by Topshop. Jones, whose line is backed by none other than Alice Dellal, has already become a favorite of stylists and buyers alike—Rihanna wore his metal fingernail gloves when she performed on The Jay Leno Show with Kanye West and Jay-Z, and his line is just now arriving at stores including Browns, Selfridges, and Colette. For all that, Jones has adopted a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach to building his brand—he plans to do only one collection per year, and price his pieces well. “I design for young people,” he explains. “I don’t want it to be a flippant purchase when someone buys my stuff—it has to mean something, and cost what it’s worth—but I do want the pieces to be attainable.” For fans with a bit more cash on hand, Jones is also introducing a range of higher-end versions of his signature pieces. Those knuckle-dusters, for example, come in black gold with sapphire, or rose gold and ruby. Pretty dark.
