“You can wear a hat and be yourself, or you can wear a hat and be a version of yourself” John Galliano
Stephan Jones is a British couture hat designer (“modiste”) whose Exposition at the Palais Galleriera ended March 16, 2025. The first hat exposition at the Galleriera in forty years, it celebrates the cross influence of and creative relationship between Parisian couture fashion and Stephan Jones imaginative vision.
Jones studied at the esteemed Saint Martins School of Art and later was drawn into the London club scene where he met and competed with friends like Duran Duran, Jean Paul Gaultier and Boy George (with whom he shared a flat) for the most outrageous costumes. It was during this rather boisterous time that one drunken New Year’s Eve resulted in Stephan’s head being shaved. The prank ended well as he discovered that his bald head was a perfect fit size and he has since happily used his own head to develop and size his creations!
These early relationships bore mature fruit — Jean Paul Gaultier would introduce him to the Paris haute couture in 1984 and he was soon designing for Thierry Mugler, Givenchy, Lanvin, Montana, YSL, Dior and many more Maisons.
Indeed, Jones is today the Creative Director of Hats at Dior and he continues to design for forward thinking designers such as Iris van Herpen.
What can go atop a head? The universe or your country here on earth, the sails of a boat or an antique doll with “can-can” legs! Stephan Jones is limited only by his prodigious imagination.
Hats can be many things: elegant or cocky, dramatic, frivolous, serious, mysterious, distinctive, colorful, textural, simple or complex, soft or structured. What they cannot be is inexpressive. The best hat, like your Purely Personal style “comes from the heart” and expresses you or “a version of your Purely Personal style.”
