Autocross Blogs - Estelle Jacken

Some women lose sleep over their love of designer clothes; for others, accessories are to a look what frosting is to a cupcake: indispensable, endlessly interesting, and inspiring a degree of obsession. January Jones, star of the breakout series Mad Men, based on the Madison Avenue advertising industry in the sixties, falls firmly into the latter category. Case in point: She opens the door to her North Hollywood house wearing jeans, a black sleeveless top, and several exquisite pieces of vintage jewelry, including a rose gold mesh bracelet circa 1880 (a gift from her boyfriend); a late-nineteenth-century platinum pinkie ring she found in a favorite haunt in Los Angeles; and another, made from an ancient Egyptian coin, bought on a vacation in Germany. So much does Jones adore antique jewelry that she's necklaces clearance started designing her own line of "modernized versions of vintage pieces" sold in boutiques in Chicago and Miami, as well as on her Web site, januaryjonesjewelry.com.

She leads the way to her closet, where shoes (many vintage, too, because she's small and can fit into them), handbags, belts, headbands, scarves, hats, and even a wig--"for auditions when I'm supposed to be more exotic"--take pride of place. She's very happy to get fitted out for big nights in Stella McCartney, Miu Miu, or Dolce & Gabbana, whose elegant, ballet-peach corseted dress she wore to collect an Emmy for the series in September. But on her own time, she says, "I prefer to spend my money on something that's going to last for more than just a trend." Thus, she pulls out "a Chanel handbag I splurged on," another by Ferragamo in purple ("one of my favorite colors"), and bright-red patent Manolo Blahniks she wore with a short, stripey shirtdress she picked up at a vintage store in the Valley, a black beaded scarf with mallard feathers from the flea market on Fairfax tied around her head. "I like to wear vintage with expensive accessories, or vice versa," she explains. "Often I'll go classic and then add something kind of accessories clearance wild to make it my own.

The result is that Jones has great, original style, layering several vintage belts over a tank and jeans (she favors Adriano Goldschmied, Rich & Skinny, and the hard-to-find Current/Elliot The Boyfriend jeans) or risk-taking in a turquoise-and-pink-print strapless vintage jumpsuit "that I wear only in Miami or Vegas." She loves to customize, showing off a pair of black Urban Outfitters pants she had a shoe-mender adorn with studs. "I'm thrifty," she says cheerfully, a habit that began in her native Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where clothes shopping was limited to Western-apparel stores, JCPenney, and Goodwill. These days, though the high profile of the show certainly makes her eligible for a rings clearance stylist, she resists hiring one so she can retain her own style--and have fun doing it.
Not surprisingly for a woman who has such bracelets clearance specific and adventurous tastes, Jones is an enthusiastic and exacting shopper. For a jaunt to find clothes and gifts for the holidays, she selects a string of small boutiques and home stores around Third Street, West Hollywood. Her list isn't huge, she says, "but I tend to go overboard." There's her family, including two sisters; her boyfriend, who runs an entertainment-marketing company; her professional team of agent, manager, and publicist; colleagues; and friends.