I remember when I saw her pieces for the first time, it was like a year ago and I was so surprised by their intensely unique mood and the fact that they were all made by only 18 years girl. The label was called Bol$hie and the girl behind the label was Rhiannon Jones.
After being stocked exclusively at Machine-A in Soho and a number of media exposures during the period, now we can see her pieces not only in Sick in London but also in some shops in Japan and Singapore. Not caring about celebrity pretentious shits, and inspired by her real everyday life surrounded by real people who do real things, she is independently creating the path she should go and has the energy to make everything she wants happen regardless of her young age.
-Hey Rhiannon, firstly can you let us know about your history until now? I know you are originally from north England and came to London after dropping out of school, and then launched your label Bol$hie… can you let us know a littile bit more detailed story behind those events?
I was born n raised in hull grew up there, but always new it wasn’t for me, my parents are from london n only moved up north when I was a baba so I was in london regularly as a child, while growing up I’ve always been creative,from about the age of 7 i played the violin and trumpet..,then onto guitar,drums,writing and just about anything I could get my hands on! I was really into sport ,i boxed, n was on the sports teams and it kinda went from there really, my mum says I new exactly what I wanted before I could even speak, dress myself etc etc, I’ve always been very independent and quite a handfull to put it nicely ahaa, I was always getting into trouble, and it got to such a point that I got removed from school @ 14, I was already working evenings in a restaurant, so from when I left school, I worked full time to save up to move to london, and on my days off, I would travel all over england exploring different citys and experiencing in my eyes ‘real education’, education about life rather than being stuck in a classroom, also I looked a lot older then 14 so got away with it, I saved up until the week before my 16th birthday, packed up and jogged of to london town, found a studio moved in and that was that.
-Why did you name your label ‘Bolshie’ and what is the basic aesthetics and inspirations for it?
Bol$hie was my graffiti tag back in the day, my mum used to call me bolshie and it just stuck, then when I started my Label it just fell into place, it wasn’t going to be a permanent thing but as things took of quite quickly I just keep it.
-You have leaned how to make clothes by yourself and haven’t studied fashion or any kinds of design academically, but have you ever thought you wanna go to any fashion school?
No, not at all, I believe creativity and talent is not something that cannot be taught just something that your born with, if you know what you want in life and have intelligence and talent then the worlds you oyster, as I said I got removed from school at 14, with no qualifications, teachers didn’t believe in me and saw me as a trouble maker n thought I’d end up behind bars, they didn’t get me at all, but I was clever and new Exactly what I was going to do and did it. Some people thrive in a contained environment but personally I can’t think of anything worse.
-As well as your collection, your own outfit is always different from others and really impressive. Besides I think your style has dramatically changed from before. How do you style up yourself and what is the inspiration for your recent outfit?
I wouldn’t say I ’style up my self’, I just wear whatever I’m feeling at that current time, its a hard ,almost impossible thing to explain, I see I dress differently from others but its not something I purposely do like ‘I’m going to be different blah blah blah’, I don’t have any famous people I find inspiring or idol-ise, things just pop into my head and I run with them, I was having a similar conversion with my friend david the other day, we where at an event sitting down looking around and wondering how come we where so different, everyone else you could say was of ‘normal’ dress,and looked awful the general british public and majority of the world don’t no how to dress themselves atall, yet they look at us like where from another plant, and they just can’t see what’s wrong with themselves , weird ha!,
-What kinds of music are you into at the moment?
my music is taste has been the same since i can remember, Channel U BIGG-UPPPP (aka), SBTV, – A64, some people will get that ..most people wont aha,.. hip hop, rnb, broken down ripped bare acoustic, Streetz, Grime & Life,
-Do you have any fashion designer or brand you really like, including very young ones to big luxury ones?
No I’m not really interested in fashion labels , I’m from a very working class background and its never been something I’ve been exposed to nor really interests me, I can’t pronounce half of them and the most designer thing I was exposed to as a kid was Marks and spencers and that’s pushing it, where I’m from people don’t no about fashion labels minus burberry etc they don’t need to it totally irrelevant to that way of life, I got into the wag look when I was about 13, I had a fake lv handbag and some big chanel blingys,haa,but that’s about it, I love the direction adidas are in at the moment but apart from that not at all, I find it all quite boring and 99.9% of it all is crap and repetitive.
-Can I ask you about the fake Bolshie issue? I was so shocked when I saw the picture of people who wore fake ones as the pieces really looked like yours and besides, the models were Korean pop stars BigBang, who was also really popular in Japan! What’s going on there?
You know what they say imitation is the biggest form of flattery.
-How was your April in New York? Did you like it? Then I think you should come to Japan as I guess the craziness in Tokyo will inspire you a lot!
New york was the best thing I’ve ever done! I stayed in the deepest darkest ghetto in the bronx and had the most amazing inspiring time of my life, I met people from the streets, ganstas tatooed up-to the eyeballs, street rapper n dancers, the list is endless, it makes london look crap to be quite honest! new york has an amazing energy,in an ideal world I’d have an apartment in london and new york and split my time between the two, japan is next on my list! Im hoping to be over next march/april to launch my SS-12 into stores!,I’ve always wanted to go and know I’m guna love it!
-Finally can you let us know about your news, what is going to happen around you in the near future? Are you going to do something during next London Fashion Week? I wanna see your first runway show soon!
I’ve got so much happening at the moment, I’ve been working really hard and have a lot coming out, I’m doing a few really exciting collaborations one of which has been with the sex pistols and will be sold on the high street as of sep, the rest I can’t talk about …lol, I’m also working on my SS-12 collection for sep, last season I did the collaborations so didn’t do my main line, it will be a year in sep since my last bolshie solo collection and I can’t wait for it!, I’ve grown up a lot as a person but also as a designer, I’ve travelled and have learnt much more about the world and the industry I work in, and that will all translate into the new collection, that’s all I say for now n leave all to be revealed in sep hopefully on a the catwalk at LFW.
Interview & Text:Yasuyuki Asano
