Kate Lanphear rocks them like no other, Alexander Wang carved a reputation out of them and Rodarte made them bigger and meaner than any punk would dare. Studs.
They’ve been all over the internet like a blogger gets all over free stuff. And just when it seemed like every bag, shoe, belt and blazer had been BeDazzled to death, jewellery designer Emma Jane Donald comes along with her inverted studs and makes them desirable. Again.
The Kiwi-born, Melbourne-based designer’s Inversions collection subverts what was once subversive, turning studs inwards on rings, cuffs, and earrings. Industrial surroundings press studs and spikes towards tender skin in her re-imagining of the fashion pack’s favourite embellishment.
“When I started making this range I was inspired by the jewellery I wore as a teenager - studded dog collars, cuffs and belts,” Donald says. “As a teenager, I customised clothing and shoes with metal studs, safety pins, paint, markers and so on. I really enjoyed the process and the individual results you could achieve by putting a whole lot of studs on a jacket or item of clothing.”
Donald, who has worked with Melbourne designers William Llewelyn Griffiths and Julia de Ville, turns her studs inside out to draw attention to the construction process and to emphasise the way the studs come into contact with the skin, creating negative and positive spaces. She says the mainstream trend for studded clothing and jewellery satisfies a longing for the “rebel factor”.
“It’s about going against the grain or looking like individual - which is now a contradiction in itself, since elements from the punk movement have become mainstream.”