Stephen Jones. Chapeaux d'artiste.

Four hundred objects at Palais Galliera

Stephen Jones, chapeaux d'artiste opened at Palais Galliera, the fashion museum of Paris in the 16th arrondissement, from 19 October 2024 to 16 March 2025. The title can be read as an artist's hats.

Around 400 objects were shown. More than 170 hats. About 40 complete looks, garments paired with hats, so visitors could see the hat in its real role: on a figure, not alone. Alongside them, archive material, sketches and photographs.

What set the exhibition apart from an ordinary retrospective was how Galliera opened its stores. Jones's hats were placed beside historical pieces from the museum's collection. Visitors moved through periods and saw a contemporary milliner talking with the milliners before him.

The general curator was Miren Arzalluz. The scientific curator was Marie Laure Gutton, who looks after the museum's accessories collection, assisted by Alice Freudiger. Stephen Jones himself took part as artistic adviser.

From Liverpool to the Blitz club

Stephen Jones was born in 1957 in the north west of England and went to school in Liverpool. He studied womenswear design at Saint Martin's School of Art in London.

In 1980 he opened his first millinery salon in London. From then on he made two collections a year, keeping pace with the fashion seasons.

Those early years are tied to the Blitz club in London and the New Romantic scene. His circle included figures from the music world of the time, among them members of Spandau Ballet and Boy George. In a place where people dressed to be seen, the hat was the first thing seen.

That helps explain how Jones makes hats. They are often playful, strange, sometimes close to a joke. But they are made with precision. A hat must stay on the head, keep its balance while the wearer walks, and never hide the face.

Milliner to the fashion houses

Stephen Jones's name is linked to many major houses. He made hats for Christian Dior for nearly 30 years. He also worked with Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Comme des Garçons, Louis Vuitton, Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana.

The list is varied. Some houses lean toward strict tailoring, some toward theatre, some question the shape of the body. Jones made hats for all of them. That points to a rare skill: making a small object fit someone else's language while keeping one's own hand visible.

On the runway the hat often appears in the first image. It sets the tone of the look. A tall hat makes a model look like a statue. A tilted one makes them seem to smile. The milliner's task is close to that of a set designer.

Penta has written about Christian Dior's Bar suit, where the hat was also part of the 1947 ensemble. The hats Jones made for Dior decades later continue that story.

An object where it is most visible

Hats were once required. Going out bareheaded was once impolite, in many places and eras. Then the habit faded over the twentieth century. The hat became a choice, for special occasions or for those who wanted to be seen.

The Galliera exhibition put the hat back at the centre. It showed that a hat is not just an accessory but an object with its own architecture: frame, brim, crown, material, weight.

Seeing more than 170 hats in one space, it is easy to forget that each was made for a specific head, a specific occasion. In the cases they stand still. In life they sat on someone's hair, crossed a room, were adjusted by hand in front of a mirror.