Every now and again – even after a long time in the fashion industry – you meet someone who reduces you to a breathless ingenue. Meet Milliner-to-the-Stars Stephen Jones…
Every now and again even – after a long time in the fashion industry – you encounter someone who reduces you to a breathless ingenue.
"Stephen Jones, may I have your autograph?" I did NOT say after the ‘rockstar of millinery’ lectured to a full house at the Otago Museum today – but I could well have. Jones was utterly fascinating, gently witty and thoroughly unpretentious.
Celebrity clients of the ilk of Jerry Hall, Princess Diana, Lady Gaga and Victoria Beckham aside, Jones captivated us with an overview of his 33-year career, from studying at Central Saint Martins, through interning under his ‘millinery mother’ Shirley in a couture millinery workroom, to collaborating with a jaw-dropping roll call of designer names.
Jones said that to his 18-year old eyes, the milliners worked hard and played hard, which was most engaging to the then-young Punk. "Had they been coal miners I probably would have followed them into coal mining." While under Shirley’s tutelage, he had to sew a ribbon into the interior of a hat every day, which he likened to a dancer having to go to the barre every day – "I don’t now, but I should,’ he confessed.
Jones’ live interview with Otago Polytech’s Dr Margo Barton was illustrated with a star-studded slideshow, ranging from hats the milliner designed for Marc Jacobs Winter 2012, through work for Giles Deacon, Comme des Garcons, Boy George, and even hats made from shopping bags. "Hats aren’t like garments, they don’t have to be made from silk, they’re not going to be worn against the body," he explained.
His description of his design proces with Marc Jacobs was delightful. "I’m thinking of Italy…" starts Jacobs – and through a series of questions Jones establishes which town, which era, how many women Jacobs is envisaging, how old they are, what they are doing, and that they are ‘a little bit arch." This was an amazing insight not only into the creative process – or ‘filmic splurge’ as Jones described it – shared by the two, but also into the breadth of historial and cultural knowledge they must share. Told you Jones made me breathless!
Convincingly modest, though, Jones said that the process of ‘turning a conversation into a hat’ never gets easier – "you just exchange one set of neuroses for another." He relieved my personal ‘I can’t wear hats’ neurosis by underlining that a plain black beret is the most extraordinarily elegant thing. Mister Jones – I’m off to get one tomorrow.
Below: Margo Barton interviewing Stephen Jones.
Front Row at the Stephen Jones lecture at the Otago Museum: Stephen Jones client Deborah Quinn and Craig West.
Julie Roulston 14 March 2013
Leave a Reply