by Colin Jones is a big believer in the power of production.
Growing up in Spanish Fork, Utah, she was physically a million miles removed from the fashion capitals of the world, but she was already living her dream of becoming a famous model.
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“I was doing picnic table runway shows with my grandmother and practicing in my mom’s heels in the kitchen,” she says.
“Right from the moment I was born, I loved being in the spotlight. I’m a Leo,” she says, by way of explanation.
The path to stardom was not easy. Growing up in a predominantly white, Republican and Mormon town with a population of 45,000, the model known online as Col the Doll faced more than her share of prejudice as a trans kid involved in fashion .
But her unwavering faith came to an end. Just two years after her debut on the Gabriela Hearst runway, Jones is coming off a banner season that saw her walk for brands including Hermès, Michael Kors, Givenchy and Nina Ricci.
“Oh my gosh, I could go red just talking about it. I feel so grateful that I am in this position right now and that all the opportunities have divinely happened,” she says. “It’s a full-circle moment for me.”
On the day we speak, the 20-year-old is back where it all started. She’s retired from shooting WWD’s weekend cover, and is taking a break from her busy schedule to recharge at home. Jones joined Zoom from the living room of her grandmother’s house, which offers stunning views of a nearby mountain range.
“These mountains sure look a lot more majestic than when I was trying to leave. I am grateful for what is there. The smell of the cow patch, I can get over it,” she joked.
Jones first contacted a local agency after a psychic predicted she would become a model, and she hasn’t looked back since. Deep in the honeymoon phase of her relationship with the industry, she has decided to leave any negativity behind.
“I just believe in the universal law of attraction. I think we get out what we put out there,” she says. “I always try to give my best energy and I think positively, very positively when I walk into a room, and I think you always get that tenfold.”
That spirit positively radiates on the runway, where Jones has made a mark with her magnetic presence and killer walk, exemplified by her dramatic strut down the Maison Margiela runway last fall, where fashion TikTokers anointed her a star break out 2023.
She partly credits working with talented movement directors such as Pat Boguslawski at Margiela, Simon Donnellon at Nina Ricci and Eric Christison at Mugler. “It’s such a collaborative experience,” she says. Jones gets a kick out of a brief meeting, and then some.
“As a model, I always look at it as chameleonizing myself, as well as that little extra spring of juicy divine universal energy,” she enthuses. “The mix and match of all those beautiful things creates the most incredible mix of spontaneity in the moment.”
At Mugler’s last show, designer Casey Cadwallader’s collection was shown against oversized curtains under shadows and dry ice. With a royal sigh, Jones struck a series of statuesque poses as the final curtain fell, releasing a billowing cloud of smoke.
“In the moment, when that curtain fell, I just had to feel it in my heart and in my gut. I had one chance to do that,” she recalls.
Cadwallader was confident she would nail it. “When I first saw Colin in the white dress, I knew it could only be for her. She radiated there, and she was so excited. I knew she would move the perfect way to close the show,” he said.
From moving to New York City and signing her deal with Women Management to scoring a Zara campaign with Steven Meisel and the cover of iD magazine, the model has been hitting big milestones.
“My little fashion heart can’t take it. I don’t know, I’m like the Grinch – how my heart grew and grew and grew, and at this point, I don’t know when it’s going to get worse,” says she
“As someone who really had the passion and love for fashion, every second is a joy,” Jones continues. “Even moments one would be overwhelmed. Let’s say a heel breaks backstage, I’m just like, ‘This is so fashionable. I’m here for it.”
Her most memorable moment to date was earning her Victoria’s Secret Angel wings, as part of the lingerie giant’s World Tour show which aired on Prime last year.
“As a trans woman, seeing Victoria’s Secret as that brand that represented that ultimate femininity and that power, it was not only good for my career as a model, but also as a person. It was so healing for me to be in that space,” she says.
She doesn’t know if she’ll be back when the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returns to the runway after a five-year hiatus that saw accusations of workplace toxicity amid the growing #MeToo movement. “You know what, I cut my crystals under the moonlight, all I can do is really put out the positive vibes,” she demurs.
She is grateful that she came at a time when trans models can be open about who they are. “It’s a beautiful, critical time that we’re in now in fashion,” she says.
“I’m honored to finally find myself in that space as that identity, but I definitely see a lot of room for a huge sense of growth in terms of diversity and inclusion,” she says. “It’s really magical to see someone you can aspire to be, and have a role model.”
Growing up, she found strength watching models like Ariel Nicholson or Goan Fragoso who break boundaries. “It allowed me to be completely myself,” she recalls. Jones is happy to pick up that stick.
“People will send me videos of them recreating my walk or recreating poses or sending me messages,” she says. “To know that I’m having that impact, especially on the younger generation, really, it makes me emotional every single time.”
In her spare time, she volunteers at New York City’s GHMC, a non-profit that helps people living with HIV and AIDS.
“One day I would love to open up my own organizations and homes where people can go and get access to trans health care that they need, and it can be a process that is not what it is now,” she says. .
Jones says she was lucky to have her mother’s support. “She made so many sacrifices so that I could be more authentic, and so that I could blossom into the things that felt right to me,” she says. “I’m so grateful that she’s just a great example of unconditional love.”
It was her grandmother who came up with her now famous moniker. Jones had just moved to New York and wanted to increase his online presence with an attractive Instagram handle.
“I had just moved into my first apartment, my dollhouse, and I was talking on the phone to my grandmother about it. And I remember she ended the conversation by saying, ‘Oh, now you’re just my Colmán the little Doll in your dollhouse,'” she says.
“And immediately I was just like, ‘I need to call you back,’ hung up the phone, changed my Instagram handle and that’s how Col the Doll was born,” she said with a laugh.
Doll by name, doll by nature: Jones cites Barbie as her style hero.
“Barbie has a million different careers. One day that girl will be an airline stewardess, the next day, she will be a businesswoman with small glasses, and I feel the same way,” she explains.
“The way I look at fashion, I think about the gender energy I’m trying to express today? You know, Rodarte was a little feminine today but tomorrow, who knows, I might be in some boxer briefs and a baseball cap serving Adam Sandler,” she says.
Another opportunity she had with Agata Serge for WWD Weekend was to change her versatility.
“She was just like a girl’s girl. It felt so fun in the moment,” she says. “She would bring me over to the camera and we’d talk about the poses we liked, and it was a collaborative experience, and those are the ones I love the most.”
Although Jones is fully committed to modeling right now, she doesn’t rule out expanding her scope one day.
“To me, modeling is just another version of performance art,” she says. “I’m open to everything and this is just the beginning for me, for sure.”
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