Cathy's Art Diary

Glorious exhibition in Brighton Pavilion of hats by designer Stephen Jones. The hats were shown among the usual furniture and displays and were displayed in witty ways.   They blended so well with the over the top décor. I loved the scene in the dining room where they showed hats he had made for bespoke clients with one in each seat around the dining table setting up a wonderful fantasy dinner party. There was Kylie at one end and Lady Gaga at the other. Three hats from cat walk shows were displayed up the stairs on mannequins with outfits they’d been worn with. The kitchen was set up with food and nature related hats some of which blended into the artificial food in the display. I loved a red swan hat in the fireplace facing the stuffed swan in the display. In another room hats inspired by the board game Cluedo were shown on large chess pieces. The whole thing has such fun, my only moan was the labels which were interesting and had good quotes but were hard t...

Wonderful exhibition at the V&A curated by Stephen Jones, the milliner. The exhibition is arranged in four main themes, inspiration looks at the sources including historicism, exoticism and the natural world; creation explores the techniques, materials and processes; the salon focuses on the buying and selling of hats and the millinery shop; and the clients which examines the wearing and etiquette of hats and features headgear worn by well known clients. It was a wonderful mix of historical pieces along with current haute couture works mainly by Stephen Jones himself. One flat white, pink and blue feathered hat looked like something from the 1950s but turned out to be an 18th century piece. A lovely touch was to have a bonnet belonging to Queen Victoria alongside one of Prince Albert’s top hats sharing a cabinet with more modern works based in these basic shapes. I think my favorite was “Centre Court” by Stephen Jones. A green disc with white lines across the crown one of which ha...