Stephen Jones (milliner)

Through hats he developed a keen interest in fashion history, particularly the drama and exaggerated glamour of the 1950s.

Stephen Jones OBE (born 1957) is a British milliner based in London, who is considered one of the most radical and important milliners of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

He is also one of the most prolific, having created hats for the catwalk shows of many leading couturiers and fashion designers, such as John Galliano at Dior and Vivienne Westwood.

His work is known for its inventiveness and high level of technical expertise.

The hat he eventually submitted, his first original millinery creation, was a cardboard pillbox covered in blue crêpe de Chine and trimmed with a plastic iris, sprayed silver that his mother had received as a free gift from a petrol station in the 1960s.

In his innocence, Jones had not realised that millinery flowers were traditionally made of silk, but Hex approved the hat, commenting on the flower's modernity.

In 1975 he travelled to London to see the exhibition Fashion from 1900-1939 at the V&A, which inspired him to pursue a career in the fashion industry.

This led him to apply to study fashion design under Bobby Hillson, at the Saint Martin's School of Art, London, where he was the sole male student in his year.

Although he enjoyed being taught by Peter Lewis Crown, the designer-owner of the London couture house Lachasse, he had little prior sewing experience, and so in order to develop his skills Crown secured Jones a summer placement in Lachasse's tailoring workroom.

Jones soon requested a transfer to the next-door millinery department presided over by Shirley Hex, but was told he had to make a hat from scratch first.

Between 1976 and 1979 Jones spent his summer breaks working for Hex and learning about millinery methods and techniques.

Jones left Saint Martin's in 1979, the same year that he became a regular attendee of London's Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden for New Romantics and fans of new wave music.

Jones had been a Punk while at St Martins, but keenly embraced the New Romantic movement as its drawing of inspiration from historical dress resonated with his thinking.

As one of the "Blitz Kids", he hung out with the likes of Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Isabella Blow, and Jean Paul Gaultier; and shared a house with Boy George and Grayson Perry, competing with them to wear the most outrageous outfits to Blitz, including a pinstripe suit with stiletto heels.

Many of the Blitz Kids became his first clients, with Jones creating outlandish hats for them to wear to the club.

Jones designed a line of hats for Fiorucci in 1979.

In 1980, Blitz's owner Steve Strange provided financial backing for Jones' first millinery salon, which opened nearby in the basement of the trendy store PX, Endell Street, Covent Garden on 1 October.

On New Year's Eve 1980, Jones had his head shaved by drunk friends, leading him to discover that without hair, his head was a perfect woman's stock size, and that he could become his own fit model, developing all his ideas and designs upon himself.

This is a list of Stephen Jones' bi-annual hat collections since 1980.

The collections from Fall 1981 to Fall 1984 were unnamed.

1982 saw Jones' first Paris fashion show and his first televised show (for the BBC's Riverside) By this point, he was able to count Diana, Princess of Wales as a regular customer, in addition to his clients from Blitz, and had a hat commissioned by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their newly refurbished Costume Court.

One of his hats appeared on the December 1982 cover of Tatler, the first time his work had featured on a magazine cover; the hat is now in the V&A.

In 1983 he designed dresses for Susanne Bartsch's shop in SoHo, New York and furs for Sol Feldman Furs, New York, and created his first shoe line for Sergio Rossi in 1987.

Jones relocated his studio to Lexington Street in 1984.

That year, Jean Paul Gaultier invited him to Paris to make hats for his show, his first designs for a Paris couturier, and he also made hats for Thierry Mugler.

After their second show together, Gaultier ensured that Jones received full credit for his hats, therefore ensuring that the Paris fashion world was made aware of his work.

In 1984 he also sold his first designs to a department store, Bloomingdale's in New York.

In 1988 Jones moved again, to Heddon Street.

He has had a lasting success with his scarf range, which was launched in 1988, and continues being sold through his millinery salon as of 2009.

In 1990, Jones launched a Miss Jones diffusion line for hats, and in 1993, this was followed by Jonesgirl which is exclusive to Japan.

The Stephen Jones brand has had a strong presence in Japan since 1990, when Jones struck a licensing deal for T-shirts, cosmetic bags, and handkerchiefs to be manufactured there under his name; this was followed by Stephen Jones Kimonos in 1991, gloves in 1993, sunglasses in 1992, and handbags in 2002.

Jones has occasionally designed garments and accessories other than hats.

It was an instant success, with Jones commenting in 2008: "Overnight, I had a business".

Jones co-curated the 2009 exhibition Hats: An Anthology for the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Stephen Jones was born on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire and educated at Liverpool College.

From an early age, his mother instilled in him an appreciation of art by taking him around the Walker Art Gallery, Speke Hall, and to National Trust properties around the North West.

He studied art at foundation level at the High Wycombe College of Art.

This was the beginning of Jones' long and fruitful relationship with the V&A, culminating in the Hats: An Anthology exhibition of 2009 that he co-curated with Oriole Cullen.

Jones was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.

His salon and workshop are based on Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, London as of 2013.