Stephen Jones Says the Constant Quest for Perfection Often Kills Spontaneity

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Celebrated milliner Stephen Jones talks to BoF Editor-at-Large Tim Blanks about how the pandemic has signalled an opportunity to reshape the fashion industry.

LONDON, United Kingdom — For Stephen Jones, a prolific hatter and one of the most lauded milliners in modern memory, “hats and dressing up are a sign of optimism in spite of everything.” In his storied career, which spans four decades, he has created visual masterpieces both under his namesake brand and as the artistic director of hats at Christian Dior.

“The purpose of fashion… is maybe to give people a dream,” Jones told BoF Editor-at-Large Tim Blanks in the latest episode of The BoF Podcast. “To give people the idea of more fun times, a better life… something which is solely for their pleasure,”

For Jones, who has created hats for high-profile clients from Princess Diana to Rihanna, forced isolation has provided an opportunity for reflection and “just being able to focus on one thing,” he told Blanks. “I’ve only ever done that in my first collection [and] that was 40 years ago. So in a funny way, I’ve been able to have the focus and the time to do something that I haven’t been able to in 40 years.”
“Fashion is that fabulous escapism that people yearn for,” Jones said, and when it comes crafting intricate designs, he avoids the “constant quest for perfection because perfection often kills spontaneity.”
As with many industry professionals across the globe, the pandemic and political unrest has signalled an opportunity for Jones to transform old practices and reshape the industry. “The one thing about fashion is it evolves,” he said. “If it doesn’t evolve it doesn’t make sense.”

Stephen Jones and the Grammar of Hats

The BoF Podcast: Stephen Jones on the Craft of Millinery

Watch and listen to more #BoFLIVE conversations here. To contact The Business of Fashion with comments, questions, or speaker ideas please e-mail [email protected].

Ready to become a BoF Professional? For a limited time, enjoy 25% discount on an annual membership, exclusively for podcast listeners. Simply, click here, select the Annual Package and use code PODCASTPRO at the checkout.

For all sponsorship enquiries, it’s: [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Fashion is that fabulous escapism that people yearn for.
0:07.0	It's strange how this funny little thing called fashion can be a vehicle for hope.
0:12.0	It's been a time of such reflection, and it's the word I've heard almost more than any other word,
0:18.0	that people have really reflected on what they do, why they do it.
0:21.4	In a funny way, I've had been able to have the focus and the time to do something that I haven't been able to do for 40 years.
0:28.6	And that's been extraordinary.
0:30.6	And actually I think very, very clearly, the purpose of fashion or the purpose of what I create is maybe to give people a dream.
0:42.6	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion and welcome to the BOF podcast.
0:49.2	This week we welcome the celebrated milliner Stephen Jones who talks to our our editor-at-large, Tim Blanks,
0:55.8	about how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted his own creative process and provided some time for real focus.
1:02.9	As Stephen says to Tim, now he avoids the constant quest for perfection, because perfection often kills spontaneity.
1:13.3	Here's Tim Blanks with Stephen Jones inside fashion. Hello, welcome to BOF Live. Today we are talking to Stephen Jones,
1:27.0	who's coordinated himself beautifully with his look against that huge big Tretchenov lady and just behind him there.
1:35.3	And thereby hangs a tail, I'm sure. You do not have a Tretchenov lady hanging behind you without a good reason.
1:41.3	Well, this is from a very long time ago.
1:45.5	I did a group show.
1:49.7	It was a charity show with Red or Dead about 15 or 20 years ago.
1:55.2	And they have these shirts made out of this satin printer of the Blue Lady by Tretchenchicot.
1:57.5	And I said, I love that.
2:01.6	If ever you happen to have a spare panel, please send me one. And literally,
2:08.2	three years later, a little envelope arrived with this folded up in it. And, you know, I'm quite a Tretchenatic, always happy, influenced, I think, by Duggy Fields and Derek Jarman, who loved
2:14.4	Tretchenkoff, too. And so she's always looking over me.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Business of Fashion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Business of Fashion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.