Above: James Dobson by Guy Coombes.
All photos below by Aaron K
Grant Fell & Rachael Churchward: Tell us about your year James, 2010, what’s been happening? James Dobson: Well…lots I guess…Spring/Summer was a good solid collection for me, the few collections before that were a little bit smaller as I was opening the store and focusing on that. Summer, that is in store now, flowed into the Winter collection I have just done and I guess I have just been refocusing on the brand. The store is going from strength to strength… RC: Who are you stocking at Children of Vision now? JD: We’ve got Bernhard Willhelm… GF: Gary Bigeni? JD: Yeah, Gary Bigeni, Romance Was Born, Deadly Ponies, Rad Hourani – Rad by Rad Hourani which is actually his diffusion line but very similar silhouettes and really good fabrics, that’s awesome…Jimmy D of course and many others. GF: How do you go about buying for the store? JD: Vicky and myself go overseas twice a year now to buy and we always have a little wish list of labels that we are after and that we hope to check out while we are over there. We’ve been doing Rad for two or three seasons now. We’re actually doing less Australian labels than we were when we initially opened as we are finding that the internationals are working really well for us. Bernhard for example, has developed a really strong following since we opened, so just focusing on building that. GF: I guess that reflects that New Zealanders are becoming a lot more clued up on quality labels… JD: Yeah definitely and to be honest it is no harder importing a label from Paris than it is from Australia, it is the same principle… RC: And also labels like Bernhard Willhelm and Rad Hourani go very well with your own aesthetic. JD: Exactly. We get people who will buy a Rad jacket with a Jimmy D dress. I think there is always that duality in what I do, there is that darkness and that androgynous thing… RC: Talk about that, what is the philosophy behind Jimmy D? JD: I think I have always been drawn to contrasts within the collections. This season it is more evident than ever I suppose, there is this kind of sporty element and then there are floor-length, silk, georgette dresses as well. I’m a bit schizophrenic like that, as soon as something gets too pretty in my head, I have to do the opposite or do something that feels new to me. Like doing a floaty chiffon skirt and matching it with a sporty crop top, I like juxtaposition… RC: Opposites attract. JD: Totally. Without being too overt about it, I am definitely drawn to contrast.
GF: Who have you collaborated with on this range? JD: I had a few collaborations on the go this season. I worked with Claire and Greg of Meadowlark on the jewellery. I knew I wanted quite an industrial feel for the accessories, I couldn't imagine pretty pendants hanging around their necks. Chris actually had an old school 90's rubber choker that he rediscovered and this idea of rubber tubing felt really fresh and right for the collection. After sitting down with the Meadowlark guys we knew that the rubber needed elevating in some way so we designed this silver rose thorn that adorns all of the pieces. We also wanted some jewellery pieces that were in chain but without getting too pretty and necklacey with it - so I gave Claire some outlines of singlets and oversize tees that she interpreted in fine jewellery chain. They have a slightly Nordic, Medieval feel that I really like. It's great working with those guys, they are super talented. This range I also worked with Andrew McLeod on the prints. I had been wanting to work with him for a few seasons but we are both quite shy in that respect so it wasn’t until he came into the store with his partner Liz Maw and I was like, “Hey, I really love your work!” I had seen his artwork and also the band t-shirts that he had done. He is in a band called Evil Ocean and is also in Prince Diana with Shaun Thomas McGill. GF: Great band names! JD: When I saw the t-shirts that he did for Prince Diana, I realised how talented he was. They are really gothic and witchy and dark. In the early stages of working on this collection I was imagining the girl who would be wearing the clothes. She would be walking down the street, she’d be listening to really heavy music and I felt like I needed a band type of print to go with it. GF: Is that the kind of girl you see wearing your clothes? JD: For this collection particularly, it was about tough girls, there was definitely an… etherealness… GF: What was the name of the collection? JD: 'Until The Light Takes Us'…Andrew came in and showed me these Norwegian black metal album covers and the prints grew out of those as a lot of black metal album cover artwork is about naturalistic imagery; trees, bracken, woods that sort of thing… GF: Norwegian wood! JD: Ha yeah, so Andrew created these faux metal album covers, with scratchy abstract band names and the collection was also inspired by a movie called Ms 45… RC: Ms 45? JD: Yeah, it is an 80’s cult film about a mute girl who, through a series of circumstances, becomes this kind of man-hating, gun-toting killer. At the beginning of the film she is really quite a conservative woman and by the end of the film she has donned a 45 and is taking revenge. I got it sent up from Aro Street (Video store) in Wellington. It was the only place that had a VHS of it in NZ (Laughs). RC: I think this range is beautiful and edgy, genderless and confident. It is feminine without having to wear a little black dress. JD: Thanks, and I think that’s the way that we styled it too, mixing the punky, t-shirty pieces over a silk or chiffon dress. In reality, at retail, it tends to go either way but I like visualising it all together. The truth is you tend to get the young girls coming in and buying the punky singlet and the older customers that come in are drawn to the silks. For me it is definitely about the two things coming together.
GF: We missed your fashion week show this year unfortunately. RC: I was locked into Huffer world. There was some really good feedback to your show though, really positive… JD: I was really pleased. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look in my head, my last solo show was in 2006 so I had this vision of how I wanted this show to look. It was good, I forgot how much you challenge yourself, not just the fact that there will be a whole room full of people turning up to watch it, but also, you have to have enough tops to go with the bottoms (Laughs) – you have to create the whole story that is in your head as well. You can’t just feel like you’ve done it at a certain point, you have to get to that twenty outfit mark at least. I really enjoyed the challenge and I am pleased with how it looks. GF: What sort of music did you use, we always think music is very important in shows. JD: Totally, well Andrew came in and dropped off one of his Evil Ocean CDs amidst the process and I put it on one day and thought, “that’s perfect,” because he was referencing that black metal sound as well in his music. It just made sense, so we used that as the opening and closing tracks and there was some Crystal Castles, Zola Jesus and No Bra in there as well. There are some hard out sounds in there but also some beautiful ethereal bits as well. RC: A bit like your range! Music is important, all the elements of a show are important. I am one of those people that sits out the front and if one or several of the key elements aren’t working, it is very obvious. JD: Music, styling, models, make-up, hair... There has to be a journey with a show. I get bored if the last outfit is the same as the first, you have to take people somewhere. RC: Sometimes I watch a show and afterwards I feel like running out the back and saying, “You know what? Your show was really great but your music sucked!” I think you have to surprise people with the music and supporting elements and make them a little bit uncomfortable, pique their interest further… JD: Exactly. Some of the best shows that Chris and I saw overseas recently had a slightly uncomfortable aggression in the music…
