If people are going to paint you as the villain of the story, why not own that label? That was the initial spark behind Andy Jones’ new collection, Villain the Label. “I was talking with my husband, and we were just talking about boundary setting with certain people in my life, and how boundaries sometimes can be taken the wrong way,” Jones said. “He’s like, ‘It’s almost like they’re painting you like a villain,’ and I said, ‘Well, if that’s the label I’m going to wear, I’ll wear it with pride.’” Some of the inspirations for the individual looks in the collection also come from the label’s namesakes, villains. “I’m really interested in movies about villains and why they become villains, and I think sometimes in life we can draw parallels to you know movies and characters,” he said. One of the sinister examples of this is the Maleficent movies starring Angelina Jolie, which serve as inspiration for a cocktail dress in the collection. “I don’t want to be costumey, I want it to be wearable, but I want you to see the nod to the character.” An inspiration for another outfit is the witch hunts that saw women wrongfully accused of witchcraft burned at the stake. “When (the fabric) moves, it looks kind of fire-esque, but not in the literal way.” He also has a nod to female figures in religion, like Eve from the Garden of Eden with a sequin snake. Using these stories, Jones says he tries to help women own their identity. “You can have a chip on your shoulder and you can rock it,” he says. “You don’t have to be suckered into this cultural confine of a narrative that doesn’t define you. “You can actually take it and put it on its head. That’s what a lot of the clothes are about.” He’s also been trying to “learn more about the human form” and push back against the traditional concept of fashion and modelling. “I actually made a dress for this collection that’s a size 12 … I’m really proud of that,” Jones said. “I’ve always had a diverse cast of models. I’ve always had models of different backgrounds, lifestyles. “I get a lot of feedback from women, especially trans women, when it comes to the bodice they like straps, so I always try to have straps, or I’ve been trying to work with inner foam and boning so the dress stays up.” Jones also worked with Alberta drag queen Nearah Nuff, who modelled outfits from the new collection. Nuff placed third in Season 4 of Canada’s Drag Race and second in Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race All Stars. “I always admired homegrown Alberta talent … I love that we have such a strong drag community in Alberta,” Jones said. “I just felt like it would be really cool to work with someone of her calibre of drag, and have her in my first national campaign.” Returning to the catwalk Jones has been a part of Toronto Fashion Week in the past, as a backstage hand, board member and designer, presenting his work and helping friends present theirs over the years. He took a break from design to deal with creative burnout, take care of his grandmother in Edmonton and teach at MC College. “(She) taught me everything from how to dress, to how to enter a room, to what colours work together, what colours don’t,” Jones said. “She’s my champion.” Before the pandemic hit, Jones moved back to Edmonton after his grandmother, now 93, fell so he could help her and spend more time with her. “We made some really great memories,” he said. “I would never have that if I was in Toronto. Both of our lives would be very different.” Now, he hopes to showcase this line of 15 new outfits, around 40 to 50 individual pieces, at Toronto Fashion Week in November. Applications to participate are open until Aug. 24 and Jones expects to find out if he gets in by early September. Jones has been working on the collection since the end of summer 2025. He originally planned on trying to present it earlier this year at a spring show. “The universe has a way of saying this is not your time for that,” he said. “My friend who I stay with when I go to Toronto, she was renovating her house, and then she was going to be away. “This friend, for me, is kind of like a muse as well, and a big supporter of me and I could not think of doing this show without her being there.” The collection has been a challenging one to create, with Jones pushing himself in different ways to create each piece. “I’ve always been about lining a garment properly and using interfacings and fusings, but (now I’m) working with technically difficult fabrics that I would have been too intimidated of 10 years ago, five years ago, even three years ago,” he said. “I want people that knew me 10 years ago to think, ‘Wow, there’s been a lot of growth there.” Fashion Week takes place in Toronto from Nov. 23-29.
