Imagery Jason Hetherington – www.guardian.co.uk
There’s something that makes you want to look at Stephen Jones. Maybe it’s the hat – always something glorious. Yesterday, at his official Public Lecture at the Otago Museum’s Hutton Theatre, it was a fabulous cap that sparkled emerald and crimson.
Or maybe it’s his effortless good taste and style. Dressed in a pinstripe suit with the perfect scarf and shoe combination, he is ‘oh so chic’. Or perhaps it’s just that when you look at him you imagine the incredible creations he’s dreaming of. Hats are magical. And Stephen Jones is a magician.
Q & A with Dr Margo Barton, Academic Leader
from the School of Design, Otago Polytechnic
Image: Chris Sullivan
It’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when Stephen Jones wasn’t making the “most beautiful hats in the world”. Those were the words used by Italian Vogue magazine to describe Jones’ hats – and as slides of his incredible creations played to a capacity crowd yesterday, everyone would have to agree.
But Jones, who is in Dunedin as this year’s iD Dunedin Fashion Week’s international guest designer, says his road to millinery was “completely by chance”.
“I’d never thought about hats while I was growing up. But in my first year at St Martin’s College of Art and Design, I couldn’t sew at all, so ended up with extra tuition at one of the top couture houses. I was in the tailoring workroom, next door was the millinery workroom. I asked for a transfer and after the first day in there, I realized it was what I wanted to do.”
A packed Hutton Theatre, at the Otago Museum
Image: Chris Sullivan
Part of that was the incredible tuition from the millinery “girls” – who “worked hard and played hard” – clocking out from work at 5pm and then teaching Jones’ the craft of millinery.
“I think if they had worked making hamburgers, I would have done that instead. I’d have followed them anywhere.”
While it wasn’t a direct route to millinery – Jones worked for a time driving trucks to make enough money to pay for the materials and tools to make his early creations for friends – the journey has been breathtaking.
Not only has Jones created hats for some of the world’s top celebrities – from Boy George to Lady Diana, Kylie Minogue to Lady Gaga – but he has also collaborated with iconic fashion designers including Vivienne Westwood, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Giles Deacon, Comme des Garcons and Dior.
“The people around me wanted me to be a success. I always tell new designers that you have to be talented, you have to work hard – and you have to have all the help from your friends and family.”
Jones says he is never without his wooden miniature head, from which he creates 3D sketches, drawing inspiration from “everything around me”.
“The older I get the bigger my fix has to be – I like to make it a challenge. You have to love it. If you’re unpicking something at 4am, you have to still love it. There are plenty of other things in the world that will make you more money, but millinery is an extraordinary thing to do. Working with people’s heads is very personal and intimate – and it’s a very privileged position to be in. A hat can transform a person – like magic.”