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Hat devotee shares her journey into the creative world of Stephen Jones

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By Ana Elicegui (exclusive for millinery.info)

I am addicted to hats. I seek out hats in books, on the internet, in shops and on heads on the street. And nowadays, as we worship at the altar of "it-bags" and shoes, this is not always an easy addiction to feed.

So I was just beside myself with excitement when it was announced that the hugely successful "Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones" exhibition would be travelling from the Victoria and Albert Museu (V&A), in London (England), to the Queensland Art Gallery, in Brisbane (Australia).

With a fellow millinery enthusiast and friend, I decided to make the pilgrimage from Melbourne to Brisbane. And not only to see the exhibit! The icing on the cake was to coordinate the trip with a special "in-conversation" with the "millinery messiah" himself – Stephen Jones.

Read below: the conversation with Stephen Jones (and click to read about the exhibition)

 

Meeting Stephen Jones

We got early to the Queensland Art Gallery, where there was already a long line. Suddenly the man himself walked in through the doors behind us. After audible gasps and sighs, someone called out "I love you, Stephen!" How disgraceful. (I admit nothing).

In the auditorium a cinema screen played clips and images of Jones and his work. Such a wide scope, never ending variety and imagination; some of it wild, some of it wearable, and all of it gorgeous and inspirational.

Then the conversation. He and Oriole Cullen (Curator of Modern Textiles and Fashion at V&A) carried out a loose interview-style conversation. He was charming, well spoken, very funny and generous with his knowledge and admiration of other milliners and designers.

John Galliano – They discussed John Galliano, with whom he has worked since 1993, at length. The story that when Galliano first invited Jones to work together he replied "I don't think so, darling" was confirmed! He told us that this is his favourite collaboration – Galliano appreciates "flippancy, fun and extravagance" and they share a "very British" aesthetic.

He said Galliano approaches his work with poetry, romance and with thematic elements. For example, collections inspired by how children interpret clothes, Picasso and Egyptian Punk, this one featuring a beret with veiling made entirely of safety pins.

This is not the milliner's only designer collaboration though. The mind boggled as he rattled of names such as:

• Jean-Paul Gaultier
• Vivienne Westwood
• Giles Deacon
• Thierry Mugler
• Montana
• Comme des Garçons
• Rei Kawakubo
• L'Wren Scott
• Marc Jacobs
• Dior and Givenchy (these two are designed by Galliano).

This is by no means a complete list, but I can take notes only so fast! And you quickly get the impression that Stephen Jones must work like a maniac with never ending energy and ideas. Again, the mind boggles.

Film work – Then there's the film work. He mentioned "Elizabeth", "Evita" and "Coco avant Chanel". And he's not bragging. Instead, he drops the millinery gold nugget of information that for those famous hats Chanel retrimmed children's boaters. Genius! And, by the way, those shiny squashed boaters from the Marc Jacobs runways that everyone coveted and copied last year? Well, that was Stephen Jones too.

Throughout the conversation famous names and famous "hat moments in time" were mentioned: Kylie Minogue's "Showgirl" tour and Carla Bruni in a grey pillbox meeting the Queen (and wearing it backwards as is turns out), among others.

But my favourite was about the gold turban Kate Moss wore to the Met Costume Institute Gala, in New York, in 2009. Apparently she wrapped the fabric around her head and said "something like this". When Jones attempted to recreate the look it wasn't as good as that first attempt, so she styled the turban again, it was pinned carefully in place on her head and it was sewn and made thusly. Brilliant.

Another turban-related story was about a rather large one in the exhibition. Oriole explained that a woman came in to tie it on a mannequin head for display and, when she was asked if the folds meant something, the answer was that "we just try to make it as big as possible!"

Non-precious attitude to hats – Oriole also shared her stories. She and her colleagues would be almost scared of damaging the hats and especially worried when it came to transporting the show overseas. She remembered mentioning her concerns about a bathing cap and its fragility, then her surprise at Jones's dismissive reply that he could simply make another!

I was impressed with Stephen Jones's productivity and imagination, but also his non-precious attitude to hats. In fact one of the main impressions was that, as with turbans, millinery can be over worked and thought. It is better to be spontaneous, and I will strive to embody the words with which Jones characterises his work with Galliano – "flippancy, fun, extravagance."

Now I could stop writing because this event left me on a floating, all natural "hat high". But in fact I hadn't even gotten to the exhibition yet!

 

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones

The publicity for the exhibition and many online articles mention that the event was "designed to evoke a fantastical garden in which groups of hats are arranged like decorative floral bouquets". Everything is artfully arranged with cases along the walls, each set grouped in categories like a window for a classy shop, each accompanied with a thoughtful paragraph written, I imagine, by Jones and the curators. Examples of groups are:

• bicorns and tricorns
• turbans
• feathers
• plastic
• geometric
• collectables
• new London and Australian milliners.

An example of the paragraph description for the geometric group is: "The body is composed of undulating lines. Against the smooth curve of the head, hats made of angular constructions and architectural plans make a sharp and striking statement, while rhythmic spirals offer a tantalising geometric beauty."

There is a window for an (apparently very rare) Schiaparelli shoe hat and others inspired by it; and one for famous hats, such as:

• a lovely felt number worn by Dita von Teese
• Camilla Parker-Bowles's bridal piece by Phillip Treacy worn for her wedding to Prince Charles in 2005
• a feather covered hat for Mick Jagger, worn on stage for the Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang tour
• Kylie Minogue's "Showgirl" tour hat
• Carla Bruni's grey pillbox worn when meeting the Queen.

In the middle of one of the rooms, a small millinery studio based on one of Jones's has been recreated. This I particularly took comfort in as it makes typical millinery clutter and chaos look oh-so creative and alive, as if many hats had exploded in a small room.

Each "wall" has an opening through which visitors can poke their head and study the room from every angle. One artefact inside is a bizarre block from which a huge animal-shaped headpiece was made for a catwalk (I'm guessing a Dior show).

I did set out with my little notepad trying to record everything but as there are more than 300 hats to see I ended up with very few notes. Here are some that stick out in my memory (please forgive inaccuracies):

• the Darth Vader, Samurai based, helmet
• a hat made entirely of multicoloured pompoms by Søren Bach and worn by Bjork on stage
• a 'bobby's police helmet made of straw
• a Stephen Jones's headpiece made only of paddle pop sticks
• a hat covered in feathers from which an entire wing extends
• a giant leather sugarloaf hat which turns out to be the box for another identically shaped hat.

And another lovely idea is several stations where you can sit down with headphones and watch short news items from the 30s, 40s and 50s, which show, for example, how a lady might choose the right hat to suit herself. Another I particularly liked was a short documentary interview with Betty Viazim, n Australian milliner who worked at Mark Foys department store in the millinery department from 1922 (I'm told this was not part of the London exhibition). It goes for 20 minutes or so but I highly recommend this.

At the in-conversation, Jones pointed out that hats are interesting to all types of people of different ages. I really could imagine this exhibition to be not only interesting but highly enjoyable to almost anybody. There is even an area at the end for children (and grown ups!) to make their own hats using several patterns from hats in the exhibition. I saw some of the end results and was quite impressed.

I stated at the beginning that I am a hat addict. I thought no book, internet site or shop could satisfy my hat-lust. But my friend and I walked out of the gallery elated, inspired and, yes, even satisfied. Although now I see on Stephen Jones's website it has been announced that he will have a solo exhibition of his career in Belgium in 2010. I guess there's always more more hats to look forward to!

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Many thanks to Ana Elicegui for sharing her journey with milinery.info audience