The Palais Galliera is turning the spotlight on an often-overlooked accessory: the hat. With Stephen Jones, Chapeaux d’Artiste, the Parisian museum celebrates British milliner Stephen Jones and his extraordinary career spanning over four decades. Known for his bold, visionary designs, Jones has crafted hats that are more than accessories—they’re pieces of art. This exhibition marks a significant first for the museum, as it has never before dedicated an entire exhibition to a single accessory. With nearly 400 works on display, including over 170 of Jones’s hats, preparatory sketches, and fashion show archives, the exhibit takes visitors into the mind of a designer who shaped the way we view hat-making.
Since opening his first millinery salon in 1980, Jones has left an indelible mark on the fashion world, starting with his connection to London’s New Romantic scene, where his nights at Covent Garden’s iconic club The Blitz led to friendships with music icons like Boy George and Spandau Ballet, making them some of his first clients. This momentum quickly propelled him into haute couture, where he formed long-lasting relationships with top designers like Christian Dior, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Louis Vuitton, who are just a few of the fashion giants who have relied on Jones to add his daring craft to their collections and still do so up until this day. Jones’s hats have complemented and defined countless looks, shaping the fashion industry from the 1980s to the present.
The exhibition highlights not only his legacy but Jones’s deep ties to Paris, where his work and creative vision reached new heights, collaborating with French fashion houses that influenced his approach. His collaboration with Christian Dior alone spans nearly three decades, with designs that continue to redefine and elevate couture. Jones' creations often pay homage to French history, symbols of Paris, and the iconic image of the Parisian woman, earning him a unique distinction as the most “Frenchified” of English milliners, with his works capturing a spirit that is distinctly Parisian and deeply personal.
Visitors to Chapeaux d’Artiste are treated to a striking display of around forty complete looks, where Jones’s hats and haute couture ensembles merge as seamlessly as they do on the biggest runways all around the world. Each piece in the exhibition is a testament to Jones’s fearless creativity and his dedication to millinery as an art form. Through his unique perspective, Stephen Jones has reshaped our view of hats, transforming them into powerful, artistic statements, and we will be able to witness it first hand until March 16th, 2025.
