The renowned English designer has been creating headwear for celebrities like Lady Diana and Rihanna and all the major fashion companies, including Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Schiaparelli, for 40 years. Numéro examines the life and work of a tremendously talented milliner, considered an icon. 

What do the designers Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Kim Jones, Raf Simons, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, and Marc Jacobs have in common besides their extraordinary artistic ability? Stephen Jones is the response. This English gentleman has been a master milliner for the last forty years, to the point that all the major fashion houses and up-and-coming designers want his services. He even has his label. Kim Jones, the creative director of Dior’s menswear lines, confides, “I’ve known Stephen for a very long time.” He was one of my heroes as a teenager [in the 1980s]. We started working together when I started at Dior, and I have the utmost regard for him. 

Stephen Jones is a seasoned artist who has elevated the expressive potential of an often-overlooked accessory. He will put the same amount of attention into a straightforward leather beret as he did for Dior’s fall/winter 2017–18 runway show, which Rihanna later wore, as well as a magnificent headpiece made of black feathers for the Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2014 show, which was the last one to be designed by Marc Jacobs.

In Paris in 2017, Rihanna wore a Stephen Jones-designed hat from Dior. Marc

Lady Diana at Braemar, Scotland, 1982, sporting an autographed Jones beret.

In Paris in 2017, Rihanna wore a Stephen Jones-designed hat from Dior. Marc Lady Diana at Braemar, Scotland, 1982, sporting an autographed Jones beret.

 Stephen is a real visionary who can conjure up extraordinary works of art. “They’re unique even when they’re just regular, everyday kinds of hats,” says Dior’s artistic director of womenswear, Maria Grazia Chiuri. She says, “I also recall my first Dior haute couture collection [spring/summer 2017].” Following the performance, we hosted a party modeled after the 1956 Bal des Têtes, a lavish gala by Baron Alexis de Redé at the Hôtel Lambert. Stephen made us these fantastic medication boxes. I finally realized what the hat was all about at that point. For Jones, whose passion for what he does is contagious, a hat’s style is irrelevant as long as it pushes the limits of the milliner’s skill, whether in terms of volume, proportion, materials, or embellishments. According to the designer, who was born in Cheshire (a place shared by Lewis Carroll, the creator of the renowned Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland), “a hat is a visible accessory that gives character and personality” (1869).

Jones’s remarkable longevity in the fashion business cannot be solely attributed to his boundless creativity and unparalleled expertise. According to Adrian Joffre, a close friend of Stephen Jones who co-founded the concept shop Dover Street Market with Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, “his hats are creative, iconoclastic, and revolutionary.” “He respects the traditions while also breaking the rules.” Like him, his art is superb, exquisite, and highly specific. Even Jones readily acknowledges his penchant for playing with paradox. Before studying fashion at the renowned Central Saint Martins in London, where he graduated in 1979, he initially attended High Wycombe College of Art. “I used to like looking through old Vogue issues as a student. Rustic designs and easy-to-wear wardrobes were popular in the 1970s. All that I detested. However, I adored the images captured by Henry Clarke of dresses by Jacques Fath, Balenciaga, and Dior. They were so refined and elegant, with sharp postures and a graphic style that, in my opinion, is also present in Johnny Rotten, the vocalist of Sex Pistols, who has a burning ambition to be the greatest. It’s a glamorous radical attitude that contrasted with all the comfy clothes in style at the time. 

Stephen Jones’s headpiece from the Dior haute couture Spring-Summer 2004 collection, designed by John Galliano. 

Stephen Jones’s headpiece from the Dior haute couture Spring-Summer 2004 collection, designed by John Galliano.

Stephen Jones’s headpiece from the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2014 collection

Stephen Jones’s headpiece from the Dior haute couture Spring-Summer 2004 collection, designed by John Galliano Getty Images, Dominique Maître, WWD, and Penske MediaStephen Jones’s headpiece from the Dior haute couture Spring-Summer 2004 collection, designed by John Galliano Getty Images, Dominique Maître, WWD, and Penske MediaStephen Jones’s headpiece from the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2014 collection

Jones went from being a punk student to becoming a principal designer for the New Romantics during this epochal time when London was the center of street style. The New Romantics shared a flair for androgyny with glam rock and David Bowie but also went in for ostentatious historical allusions. In addition to creating extravagant hats for his pals, the band Duran Duran and French designer Jean Paul Gaultier, Jones also designed ridiculous hats for his flatmates, pop singer Boy George and artist Grayson Perry, to liven up their interminable evenings out at the renowned Blitz club. The club’s owner, Steve Strange, volunteered to fund Stephen Jones’s Covent Garden hat shop in 1980, and two years later, Princess Diana relied on his expertise. From Rei Kawakubo, the originator of Comme des Garçons, and Jean Paul Gaultier to the similarly daring Thierry Mugler, the highly punk Vivienne Westwood, and, of course, the fantastical John Galliano, all the avant-garde designers vowed afterward to follow his vision and genius. Following the latter’s 1996 appointment as artistic director of Dior, Jones was the first British milliner to create headpieces and caps for the prestigious company. “I think the most remarkable item I have ever created was for Dior’s spring-summer 2004 couture show, which was inspired by ancient Egypt and designed by John Galliano.” He remembers that Erin O’Connor was wearing a massive golden column that was one meter tall. 

Stephen Jones is still a devoted Dior partner and even a sentinel who upholds the brand’s traditions, even though many other artistic directors have come and gone at Dior since Galliano. “Stephen has been Christian Dior’s milliner for 25 years; he is the brand’s guru. Kim Jones says, “He has taken every aspect of it, even that of a couture designer. His statements are supported by the book Dior published in 2020 on Stephen Jones’s headwear and the exhibition the company mounted in 2022 at its Granville museum. Milliners who have garnered this kind of singular acclaim for their expertise are rare (Chanel, a former milliner, rose to stardom as a couturier). Jones cocurated the 2009 Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition Hats: An Anthology, named after Cecil Beaton’s 1971 display Fashion: An Anthology. Jones has produced more work than ever in the last five years. In addition to his two yearly collections under his name and those he creates for Dior, he has collaborated on special projects for Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Kylie Jenner, as well as working with Schiaparelli, Moschino, Rochas, Thom Browne, Marc Jacobs, and the British designer Grace Wales Bonner. This is by no means an exhaustive list. I’ve collaborated with many designers throughout my career, but never as many as I do today. Every time, I see it as an exchange between two very different people. I feed them, and they feed me. They have their own definitions of beautiful and ugly, and I have mine. Is it always necessary for me to defend my position? No, I want to learn from them, and I rediscover my inner kid,” says Jones. Herein is the key to his remarkable career: a radical interpretation of fashion combined with an in-depth understanding of its principles and processes, an ardent curiosity, and a genuine and honest modesty. 

 Conclusion

• Stephen Jones is a highly respected and visionary English milliner who has been designing headwear for major fashion houses and celebrities for the past 40 years.
• He has collaborated with renowned designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Kim Jones, Raf Simons, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, and Marc Jacobs, creating unique and iconic pieces.
• Jones’s creative approach to hats transcends traditional styles, focusing on pushing the limits of volume, proportion, materials, and embellishments, making each piece a work of art.
• Beyond his creative talent, Jones is known for his longevity in the fashion industry, respecting traditions while breaking rules, and maintaining a genuine and modest approach to his craft.