As owner-designer of Robin Jones Clothing, Claire Kingan-Jones has built a reputation for beautiful, feminine clothing, in tactile fabrications, that offer the wearer a glimpse of the glamour of times less fraught with stress than today, updated for our modern, busy lifestyle. Exquisite vintage fabrics, the delights to be found rummaging through second-hand stores, and garments that scream out to be touched and worn gets the Auckland-based fashion designer excited about her work. Kingan-Jones studied fashion design in her hometown of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She started her own surf/streetwear label there, before leaving on her “OE” in 1989. During her four years in England her life changed direction - she met her Kiwi husband and moved to New Zealand with him in 1992. Calling on her training and all she’d seen and learned on her travels, she set up Robin Jones Clothing in 1993. Women loved her designs and the company had grown ready to move into the Australian market by 1996. Her labels are now stocked in more than 75 boutiques in New Zealand and Australia.