Locally based fashion designer Audrey Jones has tailored a way through a tight economy that is strapping the industry.
Instead of renting or buying a boutique, she makes most of the clothes for her Figure 8 clothing line at her University City home.
“I want to get my designs into as many boutiques across the country as I can manage from home, but I don’t want to own a boutique because of the overhead and the economy,” said 29-year-old Audrey Jones, who was born in Guyana, South America to an American Indian mother and an African-American father.
Jones lived in South America until age 10 when her parents relocated to New York until children started getting jacked for their coats on the way to school. Her parents found safer and greener pastures for their eight children in Kansas City, Kansas.
Jones sewed up a bachelor’s degree in business management and human resources from nearby Missouri Western University and a master’s degree in the same disciplines from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
However, a short stint at Chrysler Motors drove Jones down an entrepreneurial road that led to Miami.
It was in Miami that Jones said she asked God what work she should do.
Designing clothes – a family avocation – was the command, said Jones, who used to sew clothes for her baby dolls and have a fashion show for them with her friends.
Jones started designing and making clothes in Miami, but after returning home to Kansas, a cousin failed to properly oversee her strides.
But Jones got things back rolling. Today, she travels between Miami, Kansas and St. Louis, doing business.
Jones started visiting St. Louis with her family as a youngster and continued in college. She liked it and moved here in 2005.
“It’s a small town, but it operates like a big city,” Jones said.
“I like the atmosphere and the people – they are progressive and really doing things here,” she said.
When Jones moved here, she struck a relationship with Maria Mathis, owner of the Busy B, an alteration store in Clayton. There she did an apprenticeship and currently fixes and sews some of her piece there.
Jones’ Figure 8 designs can be found here in City Chic boutique Downtown on Washington Blvd. and Imported Designs.
Some of Jones pieces are just about set to hit the catwalk at 8:30, Friday, May 9 in the Pronto Fashion Show and Design Competition at 555 Washington Ave. Downtown.
Jones’ designs are classy, couture, lingerie/lounge wear, tees, tanks and undergarments, and she caters to all sizes, including plus-sizes.
Serena Stephens, owner of City Chic, said she went with some of Jones pieces because, “Her line reps what every woman wants to be, but may not be according to consumer standards, so a woman who may not be an eight can look like an eight.”
Stephens said she also likes Jones’ personality and that they click, noting that good relationships are important for business.
Many woman have gone hard in their quests for style, according to Jones, who is attempting to put femininity back into women’s fashions.
“I like to see a well-dressed woman – it says so much about her,” Jones said.
Her Figure 8 business name represents the number eight-shape figure that Jones said every woman wants. It also reps the number of offspring that her parents conceived.
Though she has brothers and sisters, Jones said she is a loner and isn’t afraid to be alone. But she likes talking to children and elders.
“Sometimes we forget that they make up the whole, and we can learn a lot from them,” the easy-going Virgo said.
She likes to travel and party when she does, but at home she doesn’t get out much unless it has something to with fashion, though she find museums fascinating.