UK Edition
Meet J&M Davidson: the stylish couple behind fashion insider’s beloved handbag line
You won’t see John and Monique Davidson at many fashion parties. They’ve been married (to one another) for 44 years. A stylish couple, they avoid showy events. Sartorial standards remain high, however. “Even on the plane, you can’t slob out,” says John, when I admire the silk handkerchief in his Brooks Brothers blazer. “You don’t know who you’ll bump into. We are our brand.”
Leni bag in pink, £820, J&M Davidson; and Large carnival bag in burgundy, £595, J&M Davidson.
I suspect they’re also immaculate when cooking up family dinners for their two daughters or their grandson Leni in their sprawling home in Chiswick, or visiting the factories in Spain, where their desirable bags are made, and Belgium, where their knitwear is produced. Yes, they design clothes, too.
The small ready-to-wear collection is a reflection of Monique’s innate chic-simplicity: voluminous artist-shapes in glossy cotton and silk failles, it’s utility meets C Z Guest, the doyenne American socialite who exemplified functional, patrician style. This is the couple who put the knitted coat, now a staple of so many wardrobes (and other brands), on the map. If you weren’t aware that the coatigan began at J&M Davidson, that just goes to prove how under-flaunted they are.
As for the discreet but glamorous bags, they’ve always been loved by those who appreciate class over logos. They’re also impeccably made, initially in Manchester, when there was once – hard to imagine now – a functioning leather crafts industry in the UK. When the last of those bag factories closed, J&M moved production to Andalucia, where they use the very best factories and achieve a quality that, in my opinion, is up there with the best of the bigger (and far more expensive brands). They’re big in Japan, too, where consistency is revered (“They order the same styles in new materials every year,” says John).
Yet J&M remains an insiders’ secret. John is philosophical about their fringe status. “You can make the best bags in the world, but if you don’t advertise you can’t ever really compete with the big boys. We never really pushed ourselves forwards.” That’s the nub.
Manolo Blahnik scarcely advertises in relation to the scale of his business, but he has a huge personality. The patronage of Sex and the City didn’t hurt, either. Fashion designer Martin Margiela, on the other hand, is so self-effacing that most people who work in the industry don’t know what he looks like – but that anonymity in itself became a clever talking point.
Poncho, £455, J&M Davidson; Trouser, £580, J&M Davidson; and Greta bag, £1425, J&M Davidson.
The thing about being under the radar is that existing fans tend to love it. But businesses need regular growth spurts to keep investors smiling. J&M has the Japanese on board [it is backed by fashion conglomerate Yagi Tsusho, which also owns Mackintosh) – and the latter have been thinking big recently.
So, three decades after they set up shop in the basement of Margaret Howell’s store (Diana, Princess of Wales, or Lady Dee, as they both call her, à la franglais, used to buy their belts by the armful), they opened in Mount Street in Mayfair, swankiest and most fashionable of London’s shopping drags. Here, their neighbours include Céline, Marni, Simone Rocha, Loewe and Christopher Kane. It’s a far cry from their last shop on the Golborne Road, on the gamier fringe of Notting Hill, where they were flanked by halal butchers and Portuguese cafés. The geographical shift has resulted in a perception shift – by the company ye keep shall ye be judged. They still have their studio on Golborne Road, however, and the contrast with Mount Street neatly encapsulates the label’s no-nonsense stealth-status.
Medium carnival bag in brown, £550, J&M Davidson, and Gabby bag in lime, £580, J&M Davidson.
“People kept asking if we would put up our prices, but zis we absolutely don’t want to do,” says Monique, in an accent so steeped in Brie that it’s perfectly possible, even after all her time in London, to misunderstand wildly what the French-born designer saying. No doubting the prices, though, which are roughly a third less than comparable products from flashier brands – the flip side of not spending millions of advertising.
Jean jumper, £235, J&M Davidson.
The other advantage is that J&M is poised to benefit from the consumer fatigue that is nibbling at the profits of more famous, over-exposed brands. It’s only taken J&M Davidson, 40 years to reach the glossiest shopping street in the UK. To those in a hurry, their progress might be at a discouraging pace. But perhaps it’s better to view it as the closest luxury leather comes to a morality tale: consistency trumps flash – eventually.