Adam Jones: stitching together Britpop, pub-chic and the Union Jack into sweater vests
«The next collection will be more granny, more Welsh – your Nain going down to the pub with a lace collar on, and she’s drinking a pint». The punk nostalgic by Adam Jones
Lampoon – Welsh designer Adam Jones
«The presentation of my work has always been on a budget», Welsh designer Adam Jones recounts to Lampoon his design process. When preparing to present the collection, he brings together friends and involves customers.
«I have friends who are photographers and stylists, I work with the same people every time. For the models, I have used some agencies but I have preferred asking my customers, people who have actually bought the clothing. We’ve had nights in the pub where previous customers will come and model. After the shoot we have a drink together. I’m trying to build characters».
Adam Jones showing at London Fashion Week
From sewing in a fancy dress factory to showing a collection in a pub during London Fashion Week, to befriending Judy Blame and presenting his fifth collection in the coming year – Adam Jones has gone from strength to strength in the Fashion sphere. Solidifying his brand as pubcore meets punk meets grandma’s house, Jones demonstrates himself as a young designer with a long journey ahead.
An old school pub never changes, no updates, the same curtains, stained carpets from installation day, the branded beer mats, and one-time beer towels on the bar. Newcastle Brown Ale. Guinness. Carling. Adam Jones celebrates British identity through the presentation of pub characteristics and nostalgia for the accompanying culture in his collections. Having grown up in Froncysyllte, North Wales, Jones craved the freedom of an urban landscape and the opportunities made available in the fashion world, which were lacking in his hometown.
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Coleg Cambria and Manchester School of Art
Jones studied Fashion at Yale College, today Coleg Cambria, learning basic practical skills such as sewing and pattern cutting, followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion at Manchester School of Art, graduating in 2013. «I was obsessed with London and the Royal Family, I was an anglophile – obsessed with everything Britpop. I thought if I were to move to London after college I wouldn’t get any work done, I would just be out exploring, therefore I decided to study in Manchester and then I would move to London».
As Jones immersed himself as a university student, he began to take note of his creativity and its sources. «I thought I hated Wales, that I wanted to get out, go to the bright lights and the big city. In the first year I made crazy designs and I look back on them now and don’t recognize the work. While in second year, I began to miss home and little things about home. I started looking for places in Manchester and London that reminded me of home, like old man pubs or going to the parks. I went to car boot sales, and I started being attracted to materials that reminded me of home».
Adam Jones presents British identity through pubcore meets grandma’s house
Adam Jones realized that he could combine both his life in the city with remnants of his youth and referencing British culture. «The big city glamor eventually rubs off and I realized that everything that had inspired me and my work so far had been my upbringing and nostalgia for simpler times, a feeling of the hangover from the Seventies. Feeling almost nostalgic for my parents’ upbringing, and my grandparents’ upbringing, which is almost fake nostalgia, you kind of live through how they grew up, nothing much has changed».
Adam Jones: I struggled to find a job in Fashion after graduation
However, it took time before Jones’ brand – Adam Jones – took shape and to distinguish itself from the rest. «I struggled to find a job in Fashion after graduation. All my friends were jetting off to America and all sorts, working for Abercrombie and Fitch and other big brands, because they were good at computers, whereas I had no interest in that at all. Even in college, we were taught how to sew and pattern cut, and in my mind, I was always going to be a fashion designer, I was determined. I moved home to Wales for a year and worked in a fancy dress factory called Crazy Ladies».
«I managed to rent a studio for £50 a month, which was around the corner from my house, and I went there every night to concentrate on this collection. I told myself that as soon as I finished it I would move to London, and show it and see what happens. For almost three years it was an expensive hobby. I had shown at London Fashion Week but I was still working in a pub, and it wasn’t possible to buy my designs anywhere. At that point it wasn’t my career, it was my passion».
Judy Blame and Christopher Shannon – the collaboration with Adam Jones in 2019
During Men’s London Fashion Week in January 2019, Jones presented his fifty-piece FW19 collection including clothes, bags, and jewelry. Presented in Adam Jones-fashion at The Truman Brewery, located near Brick Lane and Spitalfields in East London, once a functioning brewery – today an arts and media quarter.
«Judy Blame came across me on Instagram, and asked to buy some things, which I sent, and did not expect any payment. He was the one that secured a job for me with Christopher Shannon around six months later. It was a surreal experience to work with him, and that’s when I realized that something was changing. We were working on accessories for Shannon’s collection and we would go round to Judy’s flat, chain-smoking, and he would get everything out that he’d made and show me.
We became friends, only for a short while before he passed away. I was influenced by Shannon, his stuff is graphic logo mania and that was a big thing at the time. I wanted to bring some of that into my own work. As I said, computers aren’t my thing, therefore thinking what can I take as my own? Beer towels have text on them, and I found the first ones in a skip outside of a pub».
Lampoon – Adam Jones reproducing the pub aesthetic
Jones aims to reproduce the pub aesthetic and charm within his garments, working with patchwork-esque upcycling of found objects and materials, from beer towels, and beer mats to the mass-produced images found on pub walls of dogs playing poker.
«Being in a pub is like inviting people into your living room – you wouldn’t necessarily speak to someone like that in a restaurant or in the street». The brand’s pub-chic mixture between retro and kitsch has attracted a range of customers, from those who recognize the beer logos and names, to those who have no idea what a beer towel is.
«There are older men who recognize certain beer towels, so they buy the bag. Simultaneously the brand sells really well in Asia and South Korea, where they don’t have a clue what a beer towel is, even many people in England don’t remember them, or know what they are. Guinness and Newcastle Brown Ale are probably the most popular brands».
Collaboration with Caroline Ohrt and Boiler Room in Cardiff
«There are other things that I do as well, I don’t want the pub collection to dominate my work. Move away slightly, but not completely. The customers want what they want». Jones collaborated with Danish jewelry designer Caroline Ohrt, and Boiler Room in Cardiff in November 2021. «We had three Welsh DJs, dressed the space and showed Pobol Y Cwm on the telly. Creating a mix between my nan’s living room and a pub». Other ventures include a knitwear collaboration and an exhibition of his own photography.
«I have recently done some pieces for Ty Pawb, a new art gallery in Wrexham. Currently home to the Wrexham quilt made between 1842 and 1852 by a local tailor, fashion house Alexander McQueen took inspiration from it in their A/W 2020 collection. I was commissioned to make a modern-day Wrexham quilt with local students. We went around charity shops and picked up t-shirts with local businesses printed on them, patchworked the materials together, then we had a photo shoot of locals draped in the quilt to again reference McQueen. We completed the quilt in May 2022, and it is currently on show».
Jones upcycles and collages together past and present-day found materials
His search brings him to skips, car boot sales, and charity shops. «Sustainability is always secondary in my work. I don’t shout about it, it doesn’t need to be the main selling point. It’s how I’ve grown up, from going to car boot sales, or my Nain would give me £2 to spend, I’ve always been making do with little. The fact that my work is sustainable is almost a bonus, I want the customer to want the piece regardless.
The word has almost lost meaning. Some of the towels are brand new, have been kept in a warehouse since the 80s, and never made it to an actual pub. I would root through junkyards and car boot sales, and now it’s a lot of eBay and online marketplaces. I have less time to be out there looking for stuff. I love the idea of Andy Warhol, stealing from other people and the readymade, and pop culture. The beer towels were produced between the fifties and seventies, but I somehow feel that they’re mine now even though they are not».
Adam Jones’ fifth collection will be released in February 2023
The designer’s fifth collection is due to be released in February 2023. «It’s already in my head. However, I’ve not started making anything yet but at least I know what it’s going to look like. I’m thinking; hot water bottles, butchers’ aprons, and budgie accessories. It will be more granny, more Welsh, more comfortable. It’s that total mix of imagining your Nain going down to the pub in Wales but she has a lace collar on, and she’s drinking a pint».
Adam Jones
Designer from North Wales who graduated in Fashion at Manchester School of Art in 2013. For two years he worked as First Assistant for Christopher Shannon’s fashion house, after having met designer and stylist Judy Blame. Jones currently lives and works in London. The next Adam Jones collection will be out in February 2023.
