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Sitting at a pub on Portobello road near Jelone’s home, I remember feeling very conspicuous with my nose in the blackberry. It was about seven at night, with another one-third of my work day to go (as usual), while everyone else was without a visible hand held device, clearly valuing their social lives with one another, not with the person on the other side of their phone. It appears that Jelone became enamored with this subtle, but important difference in the cultures on either side of the Atantic. He originally came to the UK with the intention of staying for six months, but instead, stayed nine years. “New York is still the best city in the world… but it’s a lot of presentation, showing yourself as an artist, as opposed to living your life as an artist… I thought I needed to step back and be an artist… even if it does take a little bit longer.” An artist is what Jelone was born to be. He is presently focused on his music, but was a classically trained ballet dancer, originally from Dallas, with an appreciation for Renaissance and Baroque painters, such as Peter Paul Reubens and Jean-Honore Fragonard. There is an elegance, and a sense of theatre, music (Prince, MJ, Superfly-Curtis Mayfield, Jimi), and history in his very eclectic, soulful clothing combinations. Jelone has an almost Cubist view of garments, turning the ordinary into extraordinary, with the way he cuts the sleeves off of dress shirt and puts them on in reverse over is arms. For him, a camoflage army jacket can be many things. He turned one into one of his “skelts,” a wrap half skirt, that he makes with many kinds of materials and uses as yet another layer to the already outwardly expressive canvas of himself. The camouflage sleeves are then used in reverse on his arms, creating a dramatic bell affect, which echos the gigantic flared sleeves of one of his performance shirts that he designed. With his album coming out this fall, Jelone is primed to be King, in his Egytptian-inspired goatee that he wraps in leather, and his crowns of colored scarves tied under every hat.
If you like Jelone, you may also enjoy Tatum, Rocky and Louise and Michael Calloway.
