Stephen Jones is undoubtedly one of the most
prolific milliners today. He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in
fashion including Dior, Vivienne Westwood, L'Wren Scott and Louis Vuitton. His
work has been featured in an exhibition by the V & A - Hats: an Anthology by Stephen Jones - that has recently completed a 'world tour'.
Stephen talks to me about luxury:
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Stephen (SJ): For me, luxury can appear in many ways. It’s only
sometimes that it’s an object. You could have a luxurious experience, like a
luxurious meal. But, as people say, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, so
is luxury in the eye of the beholder. In the early 21st century
people tend to think that it’s a crocodile handbag and it can be that, but normally
it’s everything else. Luxury is a very convenient thing to hang something on. I
think it sort of the level of affluence and sophistication in society. If you
think in terms of post-war, for example, if you had a vacuum cleaner, that was
a modern home improvement and that was considered the great luxury of the day, as
part of for example a space-age kitchen. And that was sort of the whole idea of
an American convenience. Whether it was a convenient fridge or a washing
machine, the woman was normally there in front of her Kelvinator washing
machine with a ball gown, long gloves and a tiara. So that was absolute luxury.
That was convenience. And then came fashion, and suddenly, the new added value
word was ‘fashionable’. And along with that was the idea of a fashionable food
or a fashionable description. So for example at Marks and Spencer’s you would
never have six cakes, you would have a medley of cakes or that kind of
thing.
Luxury nowadays is
maybe more true luxury than it was, but it’s still just really a marketing
tool. I think that people’s appreciation of luxury is so personal. For one
person, luxury may be getting half an hour off work earlier. Within all the
luxury brands, really the only one that comes from fashion is Dior. All the
others came from saddlery, or leather goods, or whatever. That in fact is
slightly a problem for Dior but also its saving, because they haven’t got a
thousand different handbags to fall back on. The thing about Dior was novelty.
The fact that you had it was just extraordinary luxury and a fantastic,
wonderful thing, but you had to have a new one every season. Dior also invented
that. But that’s not enough in today’s market.
SB: How would
you define luxury?
SJ: I think something which has had
time. If we are talking about an object then time, design, and whatever has
been spent on it to make it an evocation of the human condition. Probably
aspiring to be making something beautiful and qualitative. Luxury is in the
idea contained within the object. I
think it is completely about the experience. For example Dior haute couture,
the fitters will go and see the client at home; even if it's only on the other
side of the road. There will be the directrice
of haute couture; the fitter, there may be a sowing lady as well. So it's
completely about the experience for the client. The whole thing is about how
you want to look, what flatters you, the message you want to send. Couture is
just the same experience as they have within Savile Row, of having a bespoke
suit made.
SB: Does the
experience differ from that of Bond Street for example?
SJ: Well, the experience in Bond Street
can be absolutely fantastic as well, like going to a jeweller, or going to a
designer boutique; you will really be looked after. However, that product will
not be changed for you, whereas luxury is having the thing adapted to your
needs really, or to your wishes, to your taste.
SB: If you are buying haute couture, do you
meet the designer, for example, and is that important?
SJ: If you
are buying Dior haute couture, it depends who you are. You might meet the
designer, absolutely, and certainly the designer will be doing the sketches and
supervising it, but whether he can actually be there and be particularly hands
on is another question... most designers don’t see the clients, and never have
done, because actually within the couture houses, the vendeuse, the sales lady, is the one who
really rules in that situation and they will have their own clients, and they
will have commission from sales from their clients as well.
SB: Do you think it's important to
have contact with the maker if you are buying into this idea of luxury rather
than a luxury brand?
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SJ: Oh yes, absolutely. Whether it's having a Porsche done
for you in the colour that you want. Normally when we buy a product, the
product exists and if we like it we buy it, and if we don’t like it, we don’t
buy it. Actually, often even if we don’t like it we still do buy it because
it's convenient. But the thing about true luxury therefore, and slightly in
conclusion, is that it's halfway your thing and its halfway the person making
it for you. And the interesting point is how far you go and how far they go. So
it is a creative process, but with somebody in mind. And that exists in all
levels. For example if a woman goes to a hairdresser she has got something that
is done specifically for her. That’s why people will spend a fortune going to a
hairdresser and give a giant tip, because it is that personal service.
SB: Is luxury about re-invention?
SJ: It can be. If you look at a lot of those luxury brands,
what they do is they use their heritage. All of them, in particular people like
Gucci. They will use their archives. I think every designer does. It's so
funny, because you think that during the early sixties every designer or
whatever was trying to do something space-age. Now they are desperately trying
to look into their archives. They are incredibly proud of that. Burberry has
existed since 1856; Dior has existed since 1947. The history of the company is
more important than the newness of the object.
SB: What about the celebrity and luxury?
SJ: Interestingly
here, for those people who are buying real luxury objects, if a celebrity is
wearing it, they don’t want to have it. Often what they are about is discretion
not celebrity. It's a private luxury, something to enjoy at home with your
family or with your friends. I know some very wealthy people and they go out of
their way to make sure that they are not photographed.
SB: What role has history played in that luxury is understood
today?
SJ: Well, the ingredients in luxury; there’s
craftsmanship, and there is authenticity, and so this whole idea that this
thing has been passed down from father to son, and because of that it's a good
thing. It's a connection to a time which was maybe slower or more time was
spent in the creation of a beautiful object. If you look at companies like
Burberry or Brioni, particularly menswear of course, and the Savile Row book, The
Perfect Gentleman: The Pursuit of Timeless Elegance & Style in London, by James Sherwood, it is about their
history. Today luxury is not about the fact that they are going to make an
outfit for the man on the moon, but it's all about ‘heritage brands’, which is
a particularly British thing and of course related to history.
SB: What does authenticity mean then, within the context
of luxury?
SJ: It means that, within a luxury product, authenticity
means that it's made using a traditional technique, which is perceived as being
high class, and having soul within it.
SB: Do you think celebrity has a role
to play in defining luxury?
SJ: : Yes because if Daphne Guinness is
walking around with her new Dior handbag there are a whole lot of people out
there who will go and buy it because they think she is a tastemaker. They will go
and buy what she has. It is very similar now as it always has been. If you look
at printed archives from the 1920s or the 1930s, it's always the Marchioness of
Cholmondeley wearing a Vionnet ball gown, or it will say something like ‘She
will always go to the White House in Piccadilly to buy her fine bed linens.’
SB: What about celebrity endorsement?
SJ: Celebrities are paid for celebrity endorsement; they
have been here for a very long time. I think, what happened is that in the last
century there was this sense of decorum about it, which happened probably in
the fifties, sixties and seventies, but that all got blown away by the
revolution in media in the eighties really, when suddenly you knew that Raquel Welch advertised Timotei Shampoo. She was
getting paid for it, whereas before when the Marchioness of Cholmondeley was
saying how divine Simpson’s was, it wasn't a hard sell. And then suddenly, of
course now we know that everything is paid for.
SB: Any funny stories you may wish to share?
SJ: There was a wonderful story about Mr.
John who was a famous milliner in New York in the early sixties. He draped a
turban on a famous client. It was like a scarf and he draped it all up and he
fastened it with a big pin; a big brooch on the front. He handed the client a
bill, and it was $100, and this was in 1963 or something; $100 was a fortune at
that time. And the client said ‘ I am not paying that,’ and made a real stink,
and there were other clients there, and they were all listening. He was really
embarrassed, and he just undid and he said ‘Madam, the fabric is for free, You
make it!’
I Was A Rich Mans Plaything |