Wirral-born millinery superstar Stephen Jones has created a new exhibition for the V&A. Laura Davis reports
ECCENTRIC New York milliner Mr John remained composed when a client recoiled at his $100 charge for a handmade turban.
On her declaration of "outrageous!", he took hold of his creation and unravelled it, saying: "Madam, the materials are free."
This anecdote always brings a sly smile to the lips of Stephen Jones, the world-famous Wirral-born hat maker, for in just a few sentences it sums up his own philosophy.
"Although I try to give the hats in my own collection as much spirit and character as possible, they are ultimately inanimate objects and only come into being when worn," explains the 51- year-old, who has collaborated with a roll call of fashion designers and attracts a wide celebrity clientele.
"Initially, I will place them on top of the head of a client and experiment, trying to find the correct angle, but after a while they become an extension of the person themselves.
"This is the magical power of a hat – its ability to reflect the character of individuals but also to transform them into someone else."
Hats are his obsession, so it is fitting (no pun intended) that he should be asked to curate an exhibition of headwear for the V&A in London.
Alongside the gallery’s textiles curator, Oriole Cullen, Jones spent two years scavenging the V&A’s stores and other international museum collections, discovering many treasures, among them Dame Margot Fonteyn’s Dior arrow cloche and a Tudor knitted beret.
And, at the bottom of a box in the Warner Bros’ Hollywood archive, they came across the straw hat worn by Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady.
"Since my college days, the V&A has been a treasure trove of inspiration, but to study their archive was a dream come true," says Jones, whose favourite finds include a 2- inch miniature Stetson from the 1940s, used as a Christmas tree decoration and owned by a private collector in Los Angeles.
He has picked out more than 300 hats, of all styles and from all eras, from an Egyptian Anubis mask, dating from 600BC, to a 1950s Balenciaga hat and some of his own couture creations.
