Stephen Jones

Born in Cheshire, and schooled in Liverpool, Stephen Jones OBE burst on to the London fashion scene during its explosion of street style in the late seventies. By day, he was a student at St Martins; after dark he was one of that era’s uncompromising style-blazers at the legendary Blitz nightclub - always crowned with a striking hat of his own idiosyncratic design.

By 1980, Jones had opened his first millinery salon in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. Those premises soon became a place of pilgrimage and patronage, as everyone from rock stars to royalty, from Boy George to Diana, Princess of Wales, identified Jones as the milliner who would help them make arresting headlines.

Jones made millinery seem modern and compelling. In materials that were often radical, and in designs that ranged from refined to whimsical, his exquisitely crafted, quixotic hats encapsulated the fashion mood of the moment.

Over four decades later, Jones’s era-defining edge continues to attract a celebrity clientele which includes Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Mick Jagger, and Royalty.

Rei Kawakubo is only one name in the rollcall of fashion designers with whom Jones has collaborated.

Since the early 80s Stephen Jones has collaborated with designers from Vivienne Westwood and Claude Montana through to his current work with Thom Browne, Christian Dior, and Matières fecales. Jones’ hats have been an integral component in some of the most memorable runway spectacles of the past four decades, including his work on John Galliano’s spectacular Maison Margiela Haute Couture SS24 show presented under the Pont Alexander III.

Jones was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours, and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the British Fashion Council in 2008. In December 2024, he was named British Accessories Designer of the Year at the Fashion Awards.

Today, Jones' retail boutique, design studio and workroom are all located in a charming Georgian townhouse close to the site of his very first millinery salon. In addition to his Model Millinery collection, he designs the widely-distributed Miss Jones and JonesBoy diffusion ranges. 

In 2009 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, he curated the hugely popular exhibition 'Hats, an Anthology by Stephen Jones', breaking attendance records around the world. From October 2024 to March 2025, the Palais Galliera in Paris presented ‘Stephen Jones: Chapeau d’Artiste’, featuring nearly 400 works including more than 170 hats—the first time in over forty years that the museum devoted an exhibition entirely to an accessory. His hats are collected by prestigious institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris.

Jones’ influence extends beyond fashion houses to global cultural moments. In 2024, his feathered headdress adorned Lady Gaga for her opening performance at the Paris Olympics, where she sang “Mon Truc en Plumes” in a custom Dior ensemble along the Seine.

Now, as ever, at the forefront of fashion, his beguiling hats routinely grace the most celebrated magazine covers and enliven window displays of the world's most stylish stores. From runways to race-courses, from pop-promos to royal garden parties, millinery by Stephen Jones adds the exclamation mark to every fashion statement.