Q&A | Kate Jones

Photos by The Satorialist and Chris Shipman.

Two years ago, The Sartorialist posted a street shot of a girl walking down Broadway wearing a chambray shirt and tribal shorts. I remember it burning into my mind. This was well before Tomboy Style existed, but it just may have been the beginning of the idea. There was something about her style and air, I couldn't let it go. Fast forward to 2011, and the super-fantastic Julia Leach of Chance was nice enough to put me in touch with the girl in the photo, Kate Jones. Kate, as I could have guessed, is as cool as they come. In fact, she spent a good portion of her childhood living between Antigua and Venezuela on a boat. She's originally from Boothbay, Maine where she got started in the jewelry biz, selling clay brooches at the age of 12. Today she's creating her own collections under the name Ursa Major (also the name of the boat she grew up with, and yes, the dinghy was "Ursa Minor"), and the results are stunning. When she's not sailing or creating jewelry, she's blogging here, oh, and she's also been called one of the most stylish women in New York. So, yeah, not bad. —LGM

If not in New York, I would live...on a houseboat in California or a converted barge on a European canal.

My dream holiday would be to...pick one?! Vietnam, India, Africa or anywhere sailing.

My current obsessions are...Guy Sargent photographs, eating red meat, listening to Roxy Music, wearing the color emerald green, and linen bandanas from Apolis + Matteo.

I channel my childhood self when I...am on the boat, dancing to the beat of the water maker, a machine that converts saltwater to freshwater. It makes this quiet rhythmic sound, and life can be pretty still on the boat, so I always make up a silly little dance to go with the beat.

The fictional characters I most relate to are...Meryl Streep in Out Of Africa: tackling the unknown, taking control, falling in love. And Romy Schneider in The Swimming Pool—golden skinned and seductive.

If I had to be outdoors all day I would...be sailing...duh!

My favorite quality in a man is...discerning taste and a keen memory.

My favorite quality in a woman is...kindness.

My dream car is a...1965-1967 Mercedes 230-250SL Pagoda, dark green, cognac leather, preferably running on vegetable oil.

My cocktail of choice is...Dark and Stormy.

If I could go back in time for one decade it would be...the early 1800's in France or England; to don that momentary Greek-Bohemian look (think Lord Byron, Indian shawls, lots of linen, and sheer silk gowns), and because going that far back becomes foreign and I think it would be incredible to have to really dress like a lady, since I so infrequently do.

My celebrity crush is...still Robert Redford. Those smile lines.

My friends and I like to...eat dinner at the bar.

As a teenager I was totally into...Paul Simon, The Beatles, Arrested Development, periwinkle blue, and hanging out with my parents.

I tend to splurge on...Zero Maria Cornejo clothing and good eats.

I think there's nothing better than true understated elegance and the ability to have sex appeal in sneakers...and this is what makes me have Tomboy Style.


Images from Ursa Major's Fall/Winter 2011 collection lookbook, available this Summer.