A Rainbow in Curved Air
Spring / Summer 2026
A Rainbow in Curved Air
Stephen Jones Millinery presents Spring Summer 2026, ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’.
An excursion to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton to view the exhibition, ‘Colour’ and tripping out to the 1969 psychedelic LP by Terry Riley, ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’, were the initial inspirations for the collection. Coincidently, Sonja Christina of the band Curved Air, was his first client after having arrived in London only a month before in 1976.
In Stephen’s rainbow daydreams; what is the ultimate pink hat? Red, what silhouette do you see? How do you wear blue? He explored colour and light to create spectrums to represent Dawn, Noon and Dusk.
Dawn
Waking up early, pulling off a pink silk satin eye mask with embroidered eyelids encircled by a feather halo.
Listening to the dawn chorus inspired an abstract headdress imitating birds’ fluttering lemon wings. Azure clouds redolent of the taffeta bows of Gainsborough’s Countess Howe, were convoluted into a bergère hat with ombré spiralled straw and plasticised blue silk bows.
Noon
A gleaming sun is represented by an oval crown with rhinestone rays of sunshine. Driving Prince’s, ‘Little Red Corvette’ he sculpted an aerodynamic car wing in straw.
Sitting in his garden, the signature SJ top hat climbed into a silk rose pergola with a florist’s polka dot bow.
Dusk
The sunset hinted at an ombré chiffon scarf with sparkling zodiac stars and a rising moon crescent tiara. Dressing up for the evening? A tiara frames the face in topaz beads. An iris flower of stiffened chiffon and tulle; cascades in shades of amethyst.
The Miss Jones and JonesBoy collection take us on a day-long rainbow of millinery. From straw berets with glistening piping with a morning coffee, to straw sun hats with tulle shadows to protect from the midday sun, boaters are trimmed with petersham ribbon bows ready for a spring wedding, and ruby crystallised berets ready for dancing at dusk.
This season we collaborated with artist Khalid Benkaroum to create an abstract multi coloured print which feature on JonesBoy hats and caps.
For Spring 2026, Stephen Jones invites you to don his rainbow of millinery,
‘A Rainbow in Curved Air.’
