Stephen Jones : Chapeaux d’artiste

Exhibition at the Palais Galliera, Paris, 19 October 2024 - 16 March 2025

Trained at Saint Martin's School of Art, British designer Stephen Jones (1957-) opened his first boutique in London in 1980, soon offering two hat collections a year. A member of London's ‘New Romantics’ movement, Stephen Jones took his first steps in the world of fashion thanks to his encounters in the world of music, notably Boy George. He worked with haute couture and gradually forged close links with some of the world's leading fashion houses and designers, including Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Comme des Garçons, Walter Van Beirendonck and Louis Vuitton.

Featuring almost 400 works, this exhibition catalogue brings together more than 170 hats, the milliner's archives (preparatory drawings, photographs, extracts from fashion shows, etc.) and some forty complete silhouettes with clothes and hats. It looks in particular at the artist's relationship with Paris, French culture and Parisian couture, which is reflected in his own collections, his sources of inspiration and the themes he chose: symbols of Paris and French history, the image of the Parisian woman, homage to French couturiers, and so on.