Soap opera starlets should rethink corset dresses and WAGs can stitch up the generous cut-outs on their Melbourne Cup Carnival outfits, if they want to embrace the regal spirit British milliner Stephen Jones is expecting.
“If you were to take inspiration from the Queen, and I think people will, there was always a simplicity to what she wore because it was always matching,” Jones says. “Every look was balanced between the hats, outfit and person. Even when she was younger, the hats were fitted by a milliner and balanced by her hair and makeup.”
Stephen Jones at the Met Gala, the Queen at Royal Ascot in 2008 and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Stephen Jones for Christian Dior hat at the Queen’s funeral.Credit:AP, Getty
“The Queen, along with the Queen Mother, was the patron saint of millinery.”
Jones’ presence has been felt at many significant events for the royal family, even though he has watched most from a respectful distance. He was one of Princess Diana’s favourite milliners, creating beret styles that enhanced her youth, and at the Queen’s funeral, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wore a dramatically swooping Stephen Jones for Christian Dior design.
You would expect Catherine, Princess of Wales or Meghan to be Jones’ tips as successors to the wide-brimmed halo of millinery’s patron saint, but he’s casting a wider net.
“It’s up for grabs,” he says. “Perhaps the new patron saint will be at the Melbourne Cup.”
Jones will attend his fourth Melbourne Cup Carnival as a judge for Fashions on the Field’s Millinery Award and new, gender-inclusive, Best Suited and Best Dressed categories.
“There is cause for celebration, after the lockdowns. It is the ultimate party. And there’s great horse racing.”
That celebratory approach stops short of heels that need to be carried after the second race and dresses with hemlines high enough to cause altitude sickness, with Jones eager to see examples of the royal approach to daywear.
“Racewear is formal dressing and fashion doesn’t often supply that need,” Jones says. “When fashion designers show collections they don’t normally show formal clothes and certainly not formal daywear.”
“It’s about dressing for the time of day and event. So many Americans say to me, ‘you crazy Brits, with your hats at weddings and tailoring.’ When it’s pouring down with rain and 11am in the morning, you want to avoid wearing a skimpy dress with heels. You need your woolly underwear on and a suit and a coat.”
If Jones’ comments seem as conservative as Princess Anne’s hairstyle, take note. This arbiter of taste rose through Britain’s punk and New Romantics music scene, centred on The Blitz nightclub and juggles his royal commissions with work for Rihanna, Lady Gaga and actor Anya Taylor-Joy. There’s also Jones’ position for more than two decades as Christian Dior’s main milliner, and he brought rare smiles to the front row at Jeremy Scott’s show for Moschino at Milan Fashion Week.
Stephen Jones hats for Moschino’s spring/summer 2023 show at Milan Fashion Week.Credit:Getty
“Oh that was fun, which we really needed,” Jones says. “The last hat was finished about 10 minutes before the model went on. It was great that it was so lively.”
The hats in the show progressed from wide-brimmed boater styles to striped buoys and inflatable turbans.
“Part of fashion is about taking the world and putting it into a dress. Some of it is just about having fun and it means nothing,” Jones says. “And it can mean everything.”
Jones has found meaning in the Victoria Racing Club’s new inclusive approach to entrants in Fashions on the Field, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
“This could be fascinating and I want to be surprised. But it’s not going to change the judging. It will make a difference to those seven-year-olds, boys and girls, watching and being excited by what they see and not being made to feel guilty.”
When it comes to the judging, Jones will be focused on the entire look.
“You don’t just see the hat itself. You see the person moving there in front of you. You can see how comfortable that person is wearing the hat and how it moves.”
“The hat is always part of the story. It’s the entire story that’s important.”
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