Hats Off to Stephen Jones

Yesterday, I was talking to Stephen Jones, the milliner, about his trip to New York last week. Stephen is one of fashion's rarities. Clever, creative – I rate him as the world's best milliner – he has worked in equal artistic partnerships with virtually all of the great designers, including names from the past such as Montana and Mugler, British stars such as Rifat Ozbek and Zandra Rhodes, and modern superstar John Galliano, with whom he has the sort of creative cooperation that the shoemaker Roger Vivier had with Christian Dior in the fifties. Like Manolo Blahnik, Stephen is a one-off because he is educated in the arts, literature and architecture just as much as he is in fashion and millinery. Well-read and witty, not averse to a touch of scurrilous gossip, Stephen is in the mould of the great personalities of the past. Hats, his V&A exhibition earlier this year, was a blockbuster.

All of which means that the reason Stephen was in New York makes perfect sense. He had been invited to receive an honour from the Fashion Group International, which, founded in the thirties, is the oldest clothes charity in America. As part of a Night of the Stars gala event, Stephen was made a star honoree. He was in very good company. Other award winners included Michael Kors, Frida Giannini of Gucci and Victoire de Castellaine, jewellery designer at Dior. Stephen was thrilled as his crystal statuette was presented to him by the ever-elegant Dita von Tees. Entirely in keeping with his enchanting modesty, he didn't mention whether or not she wore one of his creations for the occasion!