Stephen Jones Visit
International star, Stephen Jones, Milliner to the famous and top designers in the world came to Truro College Tregye to meet a packed student audience from the Foundation Art and Design course and to enjoy a day making hats conveying his expertise. Jones in his lecture referred to his own start of his career moving into hat making through a love of 3D making. He promoted self directed study, as a young man, he was motivated by friends and family studying first in High Wycombe achieving A level Art and then in London at St Martin’s School of Art where he chose to follow the route of fashion in 1976. He gained inspiration from architecture when from an early age he attended National Trust buildings and learnt from his mother. As an intern on work experience Jones worked in the tailoring workroom but was soon attracted to the millinery workroom next door. By proving his abilities by making a hat from cardboard and plastic flowers that he had obtained from a garage, he made a good enough impression for them to take him on to work there.
Punk was the fashion of the time and he spent his evenings making hats and drove a truck during the day to earn his living. . Jones rented the basement for a hat shop above PX costume hire in Covent Garden that sold historic clothes and where the Romantic Movement put their collections together. Jones sold hats to his friends including Steve Strange from Visage, a popular band in the eighties and eventually his collection of clients grew. Designer clients such as Jasper Conran, Zandra Rhodes and Vivienne Westwood used his hats as part of their designs for the catwalk. John Paul Gaultier saw a fashion show of Jones’ work and invited him to design for a Paris collection in the 80s.
Stephen Jones wealth of knowledge about the fashion industry was an important part of the day. He explained that shape, proportion, texture and application is the fundamental basis for 3D work. His designs included the object and the environment and students took this advice on board to produce some imaginative and inspirational pieces reflecting the surroundings of their own setting and from their imagination using scraps of material, paper, glue, wire, flowers, leaves and even some wood and metal sheeting.
Natalie Hayes, Lecturer at Truro College commented:
“We are delighted that Stephen honoured a standing booking from a while ago to join us rather than take up an invitation to San Francisco. He has spent his valuable time here helping student artists with their work. It has been a brilliant experience for students and they have learnt a huge amount from him – the energy and excitement of the day showed just how much can be achieved in a short space of time. Stephen and his assistant Craig West thoroughly enjoyed their time with us and were themselves inspired by spending the day with a group of such enthusiastic and lively students. Having met Stephen, some students are even going to apply for work placements with him, which could be an invaluable head start to their art and design careers. Overall the day was an outstanding success and I am grateful to Stephen and Craig for injecting the Foundation Course with a touch of magic and glamour – an experience that I am sure the students will never forget.”
Image:Carl Arnold Young
