Malia Jones has spent nearly a lifetime as an international surf and swimwear ambassador, and is no stranger to having her name on a fashion label, having designed and consulted for several swim brands. But this time, with the launch of the Malia Jones spring/summer 2015 collection, it’s personal.
The surfer-model-designer is going solo for the first time and offered a peek of her collection at Rebecca Beach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, among the first Hawaii boutiques to pick up the classic, luxury line.
Jones breezed into the boutique in cutoffs and a tunic from her collection, with leather trim at the neckline and dramatic lattice lace detailing on the sleeve and back. The look achieved the difficult balance of being simultaneously sexy, sophisticated and easy to wear.
Effortlessly beautiful, she’s suddenly self-conscious when asked to pose for photos and worries about her hair, which is pulled into a casual top knot. Other women in the boutique are incredulous.
"If she’s worried about what she looks like, imagine how normal women feel," one murmurs.
It’s true. A casual top knot would make the rest of us look like we just got out of bed. On her it looks chic. That ease characterizes her line, based on her travels and experiences with swimwear.
"I feel like in some form I’ve been working on it my whole life," said Jones, who has spent more than 15 years "traveling nonstop as a model and a surfer."
"I’ve been different places surfing, but from there I’d go to cities and go on photo shoots. It’s bringing together all the elements of my travels, seeing the types of swimsuits and fashion in every place and narrowing it down to something that fits really great on a woman’s body but that doesn’t wear you.
"It’s just every element of what I love in a collection so I can share it with my friends."
Prices start at $110 per piece for mix-and-match tops and bottoms.
"I want it to be a go-to collection for basics that you know fit well, that you know you can take anywhere around the world and you can feel like you. Especially when you’re in a bikini.
"When people think about bikinis, they think ‘sexy, sexy, sexy,’ and you don’t always want to be sexy. You want to be comfortable and you want to look great, and that’s what makes you sexy. It’s not necessarily showing everything that makes you sexy."
JONES, 38, is adept at talking fashion, having spent a career modeling "every swimsuit ever," she said. "I’ve worn it all. I’ve been ambassador to swimsuit companies and I’ve had my own collection within other swimsuit companies and been a consultant on other brands."
But that wasn’t the case when the photogenic surfer, already a national champion at age 15, was discovered by the New York fashion world.
"I was a tomboy. I was always in surf trunks, like boy’s surf trunks, baggy, not like Roxy. I didn’t want cute board shorts," she said. "I wanted tough, boy board shorts, so I wore my brother’s."
A photographer nevertheless saw through her favored rough-and-tumble getup and promised to shop her photos around.
"I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’"
A few weeks later, Elle Magazine came calling with the idea of photographing her for a surf story. She remembers being handed a Chanel one-piece suit with the brand name written in a fluorescent pink and red lipstick scrawl.
"I was like, ‘I love this suit, it’s so amazing!’ I found out it was $400 or something, and I was like, ‘You want me to surf in this? You know I might get wax on it.’ I was freaked out because, you know, at 18, $400 is a lot for a swimsuit, especially back then.
"The photographer ended up letting me keep it, and I wore it when I was surfing on the North Shore; I was so in love with it. So that was my first designer swimsuit experience."
That issue of Elle put her on the map, and other modeling offers poured in, always referencing the Elle shoot.
"They’d say, ‘Remember what you did in that Elle shoot? We kind of want that for our brand.’ And that continued for the next 10 years. I think the modeling brought me out of my shell. Getting to travel, living in Paris and New York definitely brought me fashion sense."
One of her sisters in globe-trotting was fellow surfer Rell Sunn, who Jones fondly remembers plotting her first trip to Biarritz, a posh coastal town in southwest France.
"She said, ‘I have the perfect way you’re going to Biarritz. You’re going to be Brian Keaulana’s tandem partner (for a surf contest there), and then we can go there and we can go shopping.’ That’s what I loved about her. She loved surfing but she also loved shopping, and that’s me, too."
Never mind that as a short-boarder, Jones had never done tandem surfing in her life. The pair ended up winning the competition, resulting in an all-expenses-paid invitation to a tandem contest in Australia.
"I think we got second in that, but I always thought we should have done better."
The opportunities kept coming, including requests for swimwear design, which wasn’t new to her.
"When I started to ride for companies when I was 16 and 17, they always had me design pieces. I had my own line in Australia with Mambo, and different fashion companies would ask me about swim design and consulting. It’s always about not just making something surfy or something swimmy or something resorty. It’s about combining all the elements and making something modern for that modern girl who does surf but is not necessarily just a surfer. She might live in New York but surf in Montauk, or live in Paris but surf in Biarritz, and then travel to exotic places. There’s always that element of exploring or adventure, taking your things in your weekend bag to your next destination."
Even so, Jones didn’t think about creating her own line until she found herself in need of a new suit and went back to a brand she had liked and found the style unavailable.
"It just changes so fast," she said. "Swimsuits are so trendy and I’m so not trendy. I like timeless, simple, classic pieces, so I was like, ‘I’m just gonna have to create that swimsuit.’ I think because I’d been consulting for other brands, it really made me reflect on what I love about swimsuits and think, ‘If I were to do a collection, what it would be like?’
"One of the goals is to have it feel like you’re not wearing anything, like you’re not restricted by your swimsuit. It’s not pinching in places that annoy you. The fabric is super beautiful, from Italy. It’s really soft, and there’s a way we sew it so the elastic’s not cutting in. There are all these little things that make it really comfortable."
At this point she may be more enamored of the cover-ups in her collection and admits to living in them. "It’s that piece you want to live in all day while you’re on vacation or at home chilling out and you just want something besides a T-shirt and sweatpants that can still be as comfortable and look chic. It’s creating that modern luxe elegance."
DESPITE the time she puts into her brand, Jones said it doesn’t distract from her marriage to "Hawaii Five-0" star Alex O’Loughlin. The couple wed a year ago and have three children between them.
"He’s so supportive. When I have to go to L.A. to manufacture, he’s with the kids," she said. "I try on the different pieces for him, and he tells me which ones he likes. For the most part he likes them all.
"I have a really good boundary between work and being a mom and a wife. I do need my creative space, and when I’m in it I’m in it. But at the same time, I need my beach time, I need my surf time, I need my mommy time, I need my yoga time. I need time to chill out with my family and not think about what’s happening elsewhere."
The Malia Jones collection can be found at Rebecca Beach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel; Bubbles and DJ Number 808 at 66-165 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa; Seaside Luxe at Hualalai Resort on Hawaii island; and Cabana at the Four Seasons Resort Maui.
