Stephen Jones' "Hats: An Anthology" Comes To New York
©Peter Ashworth 2008
"I’ve been inspired by fine art, but I can be inspired equally by a hamburger," British milliner Stephen Jones said when discussing his exhibit "Hats: An Anthology" that recently came to Bard's Graduate Center in New York. "My first full collection as when I opened my shop in 1980. So I was about 23, but I haven't changed at all," Jones joked, "I’m much more organized now in a way. Less spontaneous? Possibly in certain ways. I sit down, sketch and can be inspired by anything and everything."
In the past 31 years, Jones has accomplished a lot: the Liverpool, UK-native moved to London ("where [Northern Brits] imagine that streets are paved with gold"), collaborated with everyone from Balenciaga to British Airways and dressed the heads of celebrities and the royal family alike. We sat down with the avant garde milliner to discuss New York style, plastic Disney tiaras and Kate Middleton:
How do you feel the exhibit translates to New York City?
Number one, I was so pleased when I went to New York. It’s very interesting; because each museum it has been at has had an impact. For example, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, they wanted me to research their hat collection. When it was in Australia, people said, ‘We want you to get people to come to the gallery.’ What’s unique about the Bard Graduate Center is that because it’s an educational establishment, they said, ‘We really want to educate Americans and inform them of the art of hat wearing.’ And since it was curated in London, it’s sort of a London-centric exhibition. However, for me, it was really important, not only would it have been so indescribably rude, to not include two special American milliners. As a British person, I always feel as if I’m slightly mid-Atlantic anyway, because we’re not European and we’re not completely American, we’re sort of halfway between the two. And certainly, as far as hats are concerned, I’ve always really been inspired by American hats from the past. Whether it was Lily Dache during the 50s or Mr. John or Halston, they were all incredible milliners.
How do people in New York wear hats differently than in London?
I think people in London wear hats most of the time formally, whereas in New York, it is a necessity because it’s so cold in the winter. If you didn’t wear a hat, your ears would fall off. But it never gets that cold really in London, so we tend to wear more hats for an occasion. New Yorkers wear hats with practicality, but sometimes they’re not decorative enough. I think that this exhibition hopefully will inspire them to decorate their hats, as well as keep themselves warm or keep them in the shade.
The exhibit featured a wide range of hats- from an acrylic knit football cap to an 18th century tiara to one of your own contemporary designs, was that kind of mixture important?
Hugely important, because I didn’t want it to be an exhibition just for fashionistas. I really wanted it to be a exhibition for everybody, but the thing is, if it was Lady Diana Cooper in the 1930s in Britain and putting on a diamond tiara from Cartier or it’s a little girl who’s putting on a plastic tiara from Disneyland, they’re experiencing the same thing. Through their head, it’s going, ‘I’m fantastic. I’m all dressed up, I feel really special and I’m gonna have a wonderful night out.’ Is it any different? I mean, essentially, the people will feel that when they’re 10 years old or when they’re 50. It’s sort of the same.
Fashion has become prominent in museums as of late, what do you think about that current trend?
I think that people love seeing fashion in museums - it can go all the way from a Gap T-shirt to something in the department store to pret-a-porter to couture. Fashion has a purpose within all those extremes and has a purpose to be looked in museums and for people to marvel over. In this fashion and media world, we’re used to it but really, most people aren’t. Most people are really gob smacked and fascinated because the one thing about fashion is that everybody can relate to it. Fine art, paintings, sculpture is in a way sometimes more difficult for people to relate to because they say, ‘Well, I don’t live like that.’ But everybody puts things on their bodies and everybody knows what transparency feels like, or a tight waist feels like.
You frequently design hats for the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II, what did you think of the drama over Princess Beatrice’s Philip Treacy hat at Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding?
In a way, I think it’s great. I mean, they [Beatrice and Eugenie] are young girls and they looked like they were having a great time. I have to say, they were a little too extravagant for the occasion. Because really, it was for Kate to shine on an occasion like that, but I respect the fact that they really went for it, whether you like it or not. Beatrice should have worn something more discrete. You shouldn’t want to tread on the bride’s toes or wear a hat that’s too crazy. At the same time, if you do like crazy hats, you don’t want to let everybody down. So it has to be finely tuned.
You’ve worked with a lot of different design houses that have had controversial times as of late. What do you think about Sarah Burton taking over at Alexander McQueen or Galliano leaving Dior?
I think with Sarah Burton taking over at McQueen, she’d been working there for a really long time and she jumped into McQueen’s shoes in a really amazing way. And it’s actually taken on it’s own somewhere else. What she’s doing is fantastic job, I love her clothes for Kate Middleton as well. She really understands the client and she has a very female perspective on design. I think Bill Gayten’s position at Dior was very, very different. And people have different expectations from him, so I think he had a very, very difficult road to fill. So nothing on that is decided or filled yet from what I understand. Marc Jacobs is not coming to Dior as is previously mentioned, and I have to say, I really don’t know. I’d actually probably be the last to know. I think that would be crazy to move Sarah Burton to Dior, and I think she’s really happy at McQueen - she’s really proud to promote his legacy as well. But there have been other American designers I’ve heard who have the possibility, like Alexander Wang coming in or Jason Wu coming in. So maybe they’ll be a great Parisian American makeup. We don’t know yet. I think [bringing a young designer in] could be great. When John was at Givenchy, he was 33. When he went to Dior, he was 35. So he was a young designer, he was at Dior for 15 years. I think a younger designer would be great, why not? When Yves Saint Laurent was at Dior, he was just 20.
What is your current design inspiration?
Right now, I’m working on my next summer’s collection of course. I was listening to a TV program a few months ago and they sort of talked about the title of this exhibition, which was an exhibition of modern art in 1956 in London. It’s called “This is Tomorrow.” I loved the idea, it’s that sort of post-war bravery and confidence. Nowadays, we say ‘This is tomorrow maybe,’ or ‘This is tomorrow, we hope.’ But we never just say, ‘This is tomorrow,’ and I just love that confidence. So my hats slightly reflect that feeling and also the work of Richard Hambleton, who was really the father of pop art. He was the biggest influence on Warhol and Rauschenberg and all those post-War American architects.
"Hats: An Anthology" will be at The Bard Graduate Center in New York City (18 West 86th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue) until April 15. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The admission fee is $7 general, $5 seniors and students (with valid ID); admission is free on Thursday evenings after 5 p.m.
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This comment has not yet been postedSo, which Princess gets to say it first: Let them eat cake! Or, in the case of the hamburger-inspired chapeaux, let them wear cake.