Dylan John Jones OBE (born 1960) is an English journalist and author. He served as editor of the UK version of men's fashion and lifestyle magazine '' GQ'' from 1999 to 2021. He has held senior roles with several other publications, including editor of magazines '' i-D'' and ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

'', and has contributed weekly columns to newspapers ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...

''. Jones has penned multiple books.

Education and early career

Jones was born in

Ely, Cambridgeshire Ely ( ) is a cathedral city in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about north-northeast of Cambridge and from London. Ely is built on a Kimmeridge Clay island which, at , is the highest land in the Fens. It was d ...

. He attended

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

and then

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...

Rob Sharp (2008)
Central Saint Martins: The art and soul of Britain
''The Independent'', Saturday 19 April 2008. Accessed July 2013. in London where he studied graphic design, film and photography. He began his career in journalism at '' i-D'' magazine in 1983, becoming Editor in 1984 before moving to ''

'' in 1987 to serve as Editor. At that same time, he was also a Contributing Editor at ''

The Face The face is a part of the body, the front of the head. Face may also refer to: Film * ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face'' * ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film * ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...

'', writing cover stories on individuals including

Jean Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 April 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corsets, ...

and

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk roc ...

. Following that, he worked as associate editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' magazine when it was relaunched with Simon Kelner in 1992, and then moved to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' where he held various positions.

''GQ''

In 1999, Jones moved to

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's media ...

and took over ''GQ''. He is credited with bringing in a roster of high-quality writers, including

Dominic Lawson Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born 17 December 1956) is a British journalist. Background Lawson was born to a Jewish family, the elder son of Conservative politician Nigel Lawson and his first wife socialite Vanessa Salmon. Lawson was educated ...

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

A.A. Gill Adrian Anthony Gill (28 June 1954 – 10 December 2016) was a British journalist, critic, and author. Best known for his food and travel writing, he was also a television critic, was restaurant reviewer of '' The Sunday Times'', wrote for '' Va ...

Ed Victor Edward "Ed" Victor (9 September 1939 – 7 June 2017) was an American literary agent, based, for most of his career, in London, England. Biography Victor was born on 9 September 1939, in Bronx, New York City. The son of Russian-Jewish immigran ...

and

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

, as well as taking the magazine in a more political direction. He hired

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

as the magazine's car correspondent. ''GQ'' was also the first magazine to feature

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

on its cover, soon after he became leader of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. Since Jones joined ''GQ'', the magazine has won 34 awards. Having won the BSME Men's Editor of the Year Award six times during his tenure at ''GQ'', Jones was also recognised for the Brand Building Initiative of the Year 2007 for the annual ''GQ'' Men of the Year Awards. At the BSME Awards 2012, he received the Mark Boxer Award for lifetime achievement, honouring him not only for his work on ''GQ'' but for his entire career in journalism. Jones was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the publishing and British fashion industries.

Other roles

Jones had a weekly column in the magazine supplement of ''

''. In 2010, Jones collaborated with David Bailey on ''British Heroes in Afghanistan'', a celebration of British fighting heroes in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, both inside

Camp Bastion Camp Shorabak (formerly Camp Bastion) is a former British Army airbase, located northwest of the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The camp was situated in a remote desert area, far from population centres. The camp was built ...

and outside, with sales benefiting the charity Help for Heroes. Jones is Vice President of

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

, and is also co-chair of the 2011 Norman Mailer Benefit Gala Dinner, being held in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was Chairman of the Prince's Trust's ''Fashion Rocks Monaco'', in 2007 and, in 2012, was appointed the Chair of the 2012 Menswear Committee by the

British Fashion Council The British Fashion Council (BFC) is a non-profit organization that aims to enable sustainable growth of British fashion in the global fashion economy. Founded in 1983, the BFC organizes biannual womenswear and menswear showcases, London Fashi ...

, helping to organise Britain's first London Collections: Men.

Books

Jones has written biographies of musician

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredicta ...

and fashion designer Paul Smith and two anthologies of journalism. He is the author of the book, ''iPod Therefore I Am: A Personal Journey Through Music'' documenting his musical tastes and how the

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

music player has transformed it. His book ''Mr Jones' Rules for the Modern Man'' is an etiquette guide containing advice on how a modern man should behave. It has since been published in 15 countries. Published in August 2008 by Fourth Estate, ''Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones'' was based on a series of interviews with the Conservative Party leader over the course of a year. It was shortlisted for the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Political Book of The Year. In 2012, Jones wrote three books, ''When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes that Shook the World'', ''The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music'' and ''From the Ground Up: U2 360° Tour Official Photobook''. The following year, Jones wrote ''The Eighties: One Day, One Decade'', which was published by Preface Publishing in June 2013. The book is partly autobiographical and partly cultural and political history which charts the story of the Eighties through

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

in 1985.

Politics

In 2018, Jones wrote for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', "Though in 2008 I 'came out' as a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

, today I wouldn't describe myself as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

." He described "the thought of

Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council ...

being taken seriously by the electorate" as "frightening" but was more critical of

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

, saying his attitude to antisemitism in the party was "insulting". Jones was a prominent supporter of the London

Garden Bridge The Garden Bridge project was an unsuccessful private proposal for a pedestrian bridge over the River Thames in London, England. Originally an idea of Joanna Lumley, and strongly supported by then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the designer Tho ...

Project. In 2017, he expressed criticism of Jeremy Corbyn and his demeanour during a British ''GQ'' cover shoot.

Bibliography

Books

*''Jim Morrison: Dark Star'', Bloomsbury, September 1990. *''Paul Smith True Brit'', 1995. *''Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy'' and ''Sex, Power and Travel'' both anthologies 1996. *''iPod, Therefore I Am'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, June 2005. *''Mr Jones' Rules for the Modern Man'', Hodder & Stoughton, October 2006. *''Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones'', Fourth Estate, August 2008. *''Heroes'', by Jones and David Bailey, Thames & Hudson, October 2010.* *''When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes that Shook the World'', Preface Publishing, 2012. *''The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music'', Bedford Square Books, 2012 *''From the Ground Up: U2 360° Tour Official Photobook'', Preface Publishing, 2012. * ''The Eighties: One Day, One Decade'', Preface Publishing, June 2013 * *''David Bowie: A Life'', Crown Archetype, 2017. *''The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song'', Faber & Faber, July 2019. *''Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics'', Faber and Faber, 2020.

Essays and reporting

Critical studies and reviews of Jones' work

* Review of ''Elvis has left the building''.

References

External links

Edition.cnn.comIMDb.comTvlives.comGuardian.co.ukGQ-magazine.co.ukTimesonline.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Dylan 1960 births Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art British magazine editors Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Ely, Cambridgeshire