By
AFP
Printed
February 21, 2025
On Friday, friends at a millinery in central London tried on hats of assorted sizes and styles. Some leant in to odor a chocolate design, whereas others admired one infused with the scent of autumn.
A tempered chocolate hat on show as milliner Stephen Jones showcases his Autumn/Winter 2025-2026 assortment at his Covent Backyard store throughout London Vogue Week, 21 February 2025. – Picture credit score: AFP
Legendary British milliner Stephen Jones introduced sensory experiences to his Autumn/Winter 2025 presentation at London Vogue Week, showcasing hats crafted from satin, tartan, crêpe, and even glass. “I was thinking about how people connected through hats, and so it’s about sight, and taste, and touch,” Jones, who additionally designs hats for Dior, instructed AFP at his studio in Covent Backyard.
Feathers floated atop a fragile fascinator, icy beads dangled down from one other headband, and Jones described a black satin flat cap with white piping as “assured” and “fun.”
“What is fashion about? Is fashion a uniform? Is fashion self-expression? Can fashion be fun? So that’s why this collection came about,” Jones mentioned.
Within the background, one visitor tried on a hat with gauzy petals piled excessive, exclaiming, “It’s so strange; when I take the hat off, I feel naked.” The centre of attraction was a Willy Wonka-esque high hat product of chocolate with a bite-size gap in its crown, which Jones crafted in collaboration with Paris-based pâtisserie Jana Lai.
Jones has already obtained an order for the hat from a “lady who wants to wear it for her birthday party” and mentioned the confectionary head overlaying might be worn by “anyone.”
“Not somewhere too hot, though”, he mused.
Celebrating life
From plush berets for Princess Diana to towering headdresses strutted down Dior runways, Jones’s hats have served because the crowning glory of celebrities and designers for over 4 many years.
His work is at the moment on show in a retrospective at Paris’s Palais Galliera known as “Stephen Jones, Chapeaux d’Artiste”, which brings collectively some 170 hats spanning his profession.
Jones, 67, was born “near Liverpool, in the middle of nowhere”.
“So, for me, Paris was always such an exciting place,” mentioned Jones, who divides his time between London and Paris.
“Paris has always influenced my work,” he added, a customary brown beret balancing on his head.
Jones crafted his first hat when he was a pupil at London’s Central Saint Martins out of a cereal field and scraps from his sister’s shirt. That sense of caprice and innovation by no means actually went away.
“Everything else can be super serious, but fashion and hats need to be about celebrating life,” he mentioned. “Especially at the moment.”For the millinery guru, collaborating in trend week throughout a time of worldwide political uncertainty was “strange.””But that’s what fashion does. At least you can control how you get dressed in the morning.”
Jones has collaborated with designers from Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier to Maison Margiela and Comme des Garcons, all whereas gracing the heads of A-listers — together with styling Rihanna in an embellished bishop’s mitre for the Met Gala in 2018.
“Hats are so popular because they’re like a talisman of something. It’s a talisman of hope,” mentioned Jones. “People wear jackets and tailoring and shoes… But to show your individuality, maybe a hat is a very good way of doing that.”
Regardless of dressing a roster of trend royalty, Jones mentioned he nonetheless has not made a hat for Britain’s Queen Camilla. “The Queen hasn’t worn my hats yet. Maybe one day I’ll make a hat (for her),” mentioned Jones.
After 45 years of presenting collections, how does he hold pulling concepts out of his hat?
“I guess that’s my character. I live my life and put it into a hat.”
