Profile
Hats were once something worn at
christenings, weddings and funerals.
Then along came stephen Jones...
In 1978, while studying fashion at Central millinery salon in Covent Garden in 1980.
St Martins, Stephen Jones walked into By day, he beavered away in the back
a millinery workroom for the first time. room, creating his first ever millinery
He says he ‘knew immediately’ that hats collection. After dark he was one of
were going to be his thing. He was right. the era’s unconventional style-blazers,
Thirty years later, wearing a crown of strutting his stuff at the legendary Blitz
his own design, he received a Lifetime nightclub along with the likes of Steve
Achievement Award at the British Fashion Strange, Leigh Bowery, and Isabella Blow.
Awards in honour of his outstanding One former ‘Blitz kid’ remembers how
contribution to the fashion world. ‘he was always exquisitely dressed’ and
The British have long worn hats of course, never seen without one of his
to mark life’s defining moments very own striking creations on his head.
– christenings, weddings, funerals – but His outlandish style began to attract
Stephen Jones has turned hats from a attention and his salon soon became the
fashion gesture into an art form. He’s place to be and be seen, as everyone from
worked with fashion deities such as rock stars to royalty, from Boy George
Vivienne Westwood, Marc Jacobs and (for whom he still makes hats) to Lady
John Galliano and dressed the heads of Diana, identified Jones as the designer
iconic women such as Madonna, Princess who would help them hit the headlines.
Diana and Kylie. His designs have In materials that were often radical,
featured in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and in designs ranging from elegant
and Atonement and will be seen in the to whimsical, his exquisitely crafted,
forthcoming biopic of Coco Chanel’s life. idiosyncratic creations seemed
He has even collaborated with Comme to crystallise the fashion mood du jour.
des Garcons to launch his own fragrance. It was at the Blitz Club that Stephen
He is a true darling of the fashion world. also first met designer John Galliano.
Born in Cheshire in 1957, Stephen’s The two forged a strong friendship and
middle class Northern England in 1996 when John Galliano was named
upbringing held little indication that he as Christian Dior’s new designer, Stephen
was one day to reach the dizzy heights of Jones was invited by his friend to be the
fashion stardom. However, he describes milliner at the fashion house. “For me it
his father, an engineer by trade, as a was a dream come true,” he remembers.
‘skilled draughtsman’ and his mother, a “Walking onto the grey carpet and up
housewife, as having ‘an amazing eye for the staircase in the Avenue Montaigne,
colour and line’ – fashion was perhaps remembering all those famous pictures
always in his blood. of Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth,
After graduating from Central St Cocteau and Monsieur Dior himself
Martins in 1979, Jones opened his first sitting on those stairs.” In his 15 years
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