Ruby Jones Brings Her Earthy-Chic Debut Fashion Line Home to Great Barrington

When designer Ruby Jones left her hometown of Great Barrington for New York's fashion district, she didn’t yet know that the creative, hands-on education she’d absorbed as a child at local Waldorf, Montessori, and public schools would one day influence her fashion label. But the tactile foundation of her formative years—learning to sew in kindergarten, making dolls and papier-mâché dresses—is the thread that binds her debut collection, which she will bring home for the first time for a pop-up on Black Friday at Jess Cooney Interiors.

Jones, 26, speaks about design the way an artist might describe brushwork. “I’ve always been drawn to materials that feel alive,” she says. “Wool, linen, soft textures. Things that don’t look overly processed.” Her aesthetic, she explains, is “playful and whimsical, but also practical and durable—timeless but not classic.” The pieces, twelve in total, are meant to be mixed, matched, and lived in. They appeal to those looking to express individuality rather than a trend-driven statement.

Gnome-core Couture

Among Jones’s standout garments is the “Meadow Dress” ($285). It plays with juxtaposition: the bodice is American-milled sweatshirt fleece, imparting a lived-in comfort, while the sleeves and skirt are organic cotton waffle-knit, lending texture and movement. Jones describes it as “an elevated take on relaxed dressing,” and the construction speaks to her background of hands-on craft and material curiosity. 

Meanwhile, the Casentino Gnome Hat ($95) channels her playful side. Handmade in New York from 100 percent wool and lined in organic cotton, the pointed cap with ear-ties is part folk whimsy, part modern minimalism. Her Button-Up Shorts ($190) highlight Jones’s knack for sculptural detail. Cut from soft cotton corduroy with recycled-cotton buttons running down each side, they strike a tailored balance, structured enough for city wear, but casual enough for the Berkshire countryside.

Similarly versatile is the Shirt-Jacket ($210), a garment crafted from 100% organic cotton and finished with natural Corozo buttons. The jacket takes on the form of a relaxed overshirt but carries the structure of a tailored layer. The front features subtle top-stitching, delivering a refined edge to an otherwise casual silhouette.

A Local Upbringing in Color and Texture

Jones’s upbringing in Great Barrington lives in the palette and cut of her collection. At Berkshire Waldorf School, she remembers making a doll before learning long division. “Creativity wasn’t something extra. It was the way we learned everything,” she recalls. By the time she arrived at Monument Mountain public high school, she already knew fashion would be her path. Extracurricular sewing classes around the Berkshires refined her skills, and the impulse to make things by hand remained central. “I was never into sports,” she laughs. “Art was everything.”

While attending Cornell, she enrolled in an interdisciplinary fashion program that integrated design studios with material science and fiber studies. Internships at Rag & Bone and the luxury label Adam Lippes then honed her sense of craft, while a stint at Bodie introduced her to working with vintage textiles. “ I was placing patterns on old fabrics, cutting around what already existed,” she says. It was a process that seeded her ongoing focus on repurposing and sustainability.

New York Lessons, Berkshire Vision

After graduation, Jones moved to New York and landed a position at Thom Browne, where she spent two formative years. The experience was intense but revelatory. “It was a totally different world from my own aesthetic,” she says. “But I learned how to think in terms of the full story, how the head-to-toe look builds a world.” The precision and discipline of that environment deepened her own practice.

In May 2025 she returned home to the Berkshires to focus on launching her personal brand. Working from her parents’ house, she produced the first samples herself and collaborated with small New York factories for production. The initial drop was available through preorder at a Manhattan launch party which sold briskly. For her hometown debut, her pop-up at Jess Cooney November 28, 1am-4pm will allow shoppers to browse the complete twelve-piece collection and a new throw pillow crafted from fabric offcuts.

A Design Ethic Rooted Here

Jones’s line has a clear Berkshire-bred sensibility. It’s refined but grounded and artistic without pretense. Her color palette leans earthy, her silhouettes relaxed yet structured. Sustainability, she emphasizes, isn’t a marketing tag but a baseline ethic: natural fibers only, no synthetics. “I try to source as locally as possible, but there’s so little textile manufacturing in the US,” she says. “Most of my fabrics come from Japan or Italy, where there’s a real commitment to environmental processes.”

For Jones, launching in New York but circling back to Great Barrington feels fitting. “When I first imagined my brand, it was always city-based,” she says. “But once I actually did it, I realized how much of my point of view comes from here—the people, the landscape, the community that values craft.” The Berkshire hills that shaped her early imagination now frame her return, her garments carrying with them the understated confidence of someone who knows exactly where her story began.