“Wearing a hat changes the way others look”

“Wearing a hat changes the way others look”
“Wearing a hat changes the way others look”

Che is probably the only designer who can boast of seeing his pieces parade several times during Fashion Week, at Dior, Schiaparelli, Maison Margiela, Thom Browne, Louis Vuitton, but also, previously, at Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaïa, Thierry Mugler or even Jean Paul Gaultier.

An Englishman who fell in love with , Stephen Jones imagines headwear both for the London brand that bears his name, for the artistic directors of the biggest luxury houses, but also for personalities, from Diana, Princess of Wales, to Lady Gaga for the Olympics, via Beyoncé for the Met Ball.

In an era where we hardly go out covered, except with a baseball cap or a beret, that the series Emily in Paris resurrected, the milliner prefers to explore the field of possibilities, varying shapes, daring colors, playing with fabrics to make the hat a fashion manifesto.

In the catalog for the Palais Galliera exhibition, John Galliano says: “What is recognizable is the delicacy of the material, the attention to detail, the suitability of the shape to the face, and the line. No silhouette is complete without one of his creations. There is also this mystery, this assurance. […] What is remarkable is that his creations finish and enhance the line; and Stephen is incredibly good at this. » The hatter gives the Point a few keys to get started (again).

The Point: Why wear a hat today?

Stephen Jones : Public transport, the creation of the automobile but also the arrival of heating like the invention of shampoo have profoundly changed the uses of the hat. It has become a choice, a gesture, like wearing lipstick. It brings fantasy, changes the experience of life but also the way others see it. The simple act of wearing a head covering says something and can change the clothing message you send. If some people think that it takes confidence to dare to wear a hat, I find that it provides it.

Like any accessory, it can be incredibly luxurious or very accessible…

The models in the exhibition are objects, but the hat is also a simple black beret or baseball cap. At the Berlin Film and Television Museum, I had the chance to see Marlene Dietrich’s collection of berets, around a hundred pieces ranging from the embroidered Balenciaga model to pieces purchased at a market. The variety of shapes has been drastically reduced because department stores unfortunately no longer have space capable of displaying two hundred different models; they prefer to dedicate it to handbags, which are less complicated to store and sold more expensively!

Does the hat culture seem stronger to you in England?

It’s funny that the influence of the late Queen Elizabeth II suggests this, but when I was young, the center of millinery seemed to me to be in Paris! At the Chapeau museum workshop in Chazelles-sur- [dans le département de la , NDLR]I saw the list of milliners in . It reveals a profound change: if they have long been concentrated in large capitals, artisans are now settling in smaller towns to make both ceremonial hats but also the small knitted wool hat for going out. her dog on Monday morning!

Who goes out “covered” these days?

Thanks to my London boutique, I observe the evolution of the clientele: fewer Americans who pass through Paris for haute couture then stop in London for hats, but more and more Asians who nourish the taste , a little lost in Europe, to dress to party.

And if protocol is always respected in major ceremonies, such as the Royal Ascot Racing horse races in England and the Prix de Diane Longines in France, the new generation, influenced by figures in music and sport, also likes to cover up. head with a baseball cap or a bucket hat, as evidenced by the crazy success of the reversible Dior Oblique model in navy blue cotton, which has become timeless. There is no such thing as a “head hat”, everyone can wear one, you just have to choose the right shape. It is precisely for this purpose that the last piece of the exhibition allows you to virtually try on headgear, in order to find the right one!

The hat on display
Through more than 400 pieces, the Palais Galliera retraces the life of Stephen Jones, his childhood in Liverpool, his studies at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London and his collaborations with houses belonging to large groups (Dior, Louis Vuitton…) or with independent designers (Comme des Garcons, Claude Montana). We come across pell-mell the “feather thing” imagined for Lady Gaga’s performance at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, her father’s rugby caps, a historic Phrygian cap but also an extravagant model worn by Boy George at the party celebrating the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana.
“Stephen Jones, artist hats”, exhibition at the Palais Galliera, 10, avenue Pierre-Iis-from-Serbia, Paris 16euntil March 16, 2025.

-

-

NEXT All Saints' Day holidays in Gironde: surfing, cycling and salted butter rusks at the Porge Océan municipal campsite