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Making Hats For Jason Wu Spring-Summer 2010 Collection. London Part 1.
The most amazing part of this Fall for me was the fact that I had a chance to make hats for many incredible designers who presented their Collections for Spring-Summer 2010 during Fashion Weeks in New York, London and Paris. The experience of being a part of the most talented production team in Mr. Jones Atelier in London was both exhilarating and scary. I simply could not believe that from the very first day of my apprenticeship I was trusted to work on the production of often very challenging hats. One of the first tasks, was to make hats for the new Spring Summer 2010 Collection for Jason Wu.
I
thought it was interesting that I had to travel thousands of miles to London to find myself working on hats for one of the American Designers. I always thought that American Designers operating in New York had milliners they could turn to without having to place orders all the way across the Ocean. The fact that Jason Wu had to order his hats in London was very telling, but this is entirely different topic for a later discussion. From the day the order was placed the pressure was on. Mr. Jones, I thought, created fantastic sketches, but what surprised me was the choice of material. #1 discovery when it comes to Mr. Jones is his phenomenal capability to come up with mind blowing designs with in a blink of an eye. It felt as if God whisperes it in his ear. # 2 discovery - is the fact the Mr.Jones had no limits whatsoever when it came to the choice of materials. This fact would surprise me over and over again when we would later start working on the Collections for Kinder Aggugini, John Galliano and Comme Des Garcons. 
I found out first hand how difficult is is to free yourself of boundaries of traditional education in design. On one hand, traditional techniques in millinery are extraordinarily important, they are safe and tested by centuries of evolution in hat design. By following them you guaranteed to make a hat to the highest standard of Couture. On the other hand - following traditional rules in millinery without pushing boundaries can set you for a life time of making perfectly made "boring" hats. The secret for being a true milliner lays in perfecting ballance between fantastic hat design and brilliant technical exectution. And so when it was announced that the choice of fabric is Crin, I admit, I had my doubts. 
Crin happens to be one of my list favorite materials: difficult in handling, fragile and extremely prone to fraying. I would never think of using it and would, probably, go with stiffened silk tulle instead. We had a little bit over three days before hats to be completed and shipped and, of course, Crin could not care less about time concerns. For me it was a bit of a struggle: invisible stitching (I thought I perfected that skill, I was wrong) in combination with attaching Crin to the wire structures proved to be a difficult task. Despite all of it, I will never be able to fully express to you the feeling of pure joy and satisfaction I experienced when I saw final result on the runway. :-)
I thought all hats looked amazing, they really became a final touch to the beautiful designs by Jason Wu. Each hat seem to be so airy, so effortless and so chic. What a great talent Jason is! I absolutely fell in love with the light pink dress made out of feathers with apple green sash ribbon. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there was not a single look I would not want to have in my wardrobe. :-) 
Just as we shipped hats for Jason Wu, another order from New York, this time from Donna Karan, went into production. I hoped for a little break after such an intense production for Jason Wu and will never forget how amazing Deborah Miller ( the right hand of Mr' Jones and the head of the production) smiled at me and said "Well, darling, welcome to Stephen Jones Millinery!":-)
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
Backstage at Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
The most amazing part of this Fall for me was the fact that I had a chance to make hats for many incredible designers who presented their Collections for Spring-Summer 2010 during Fashion Weeks in New York, London and Paris. The experience of being a part of the most talented production team in Mr. Jones Atelier in London was both exhilarating and scary. I simply could not believe that from the very first day of my apprenticeship I was trusted to work on the production of often very challenging hats. One of the first tasks, was to make hats for the new Spring Summer 2010 Collection for Jason Wu.
I thought it was interesting that I had to travel thousands of miles to London to find myself working on hats for one of the American Designers. I always thought that American Designers operating in New York had milliners they could turn to without having to place orders all the way across the Ocean. The fact that Jason Wu had to order his hats in London was very telling, but this is entirely different topic for a later discussion. From the day the order was placed the pressure was on. Mr. Jones, I thought, created fantastic sketches, but what surprised me was the choice of material. #1 discovery when it comes to Mr. Jones is his phenomenal capability to come up with mind blowing designs with in a blink of an eye. It felt as if God whisperes it in his ear. # 2 discovery - is the fact the Mr.Jones had no limits whatsoever when it came to the choice of materials. This fact would surprise me over and over again when we would later start working on the Collections for Kinder Aggugini, John Galliano and Comme Des Garcons. 
I found out first hand how difficult is is to free yourself of boundaries of traditional education in design. On one hand, traditional techniques in millinery are extraordinarily important, they are safe and tested by centuries of evolution in hat design. By following them you guaranteed to make a hat to the highest standard of Couture. On the other hand - following traditional rules in millinery without pushing boundaries can set you for a life time of making perfectly made "boring" hats. The secret for being a true milliner lays in perfecting ballance between fantastic hat design and brilliant technical exectution. And so when it was announced that the choice of fabric is Crin, I admit, I had my doubts. 
Crin happens to be one of my list favorite materials: difficult in handling, fragile and extremely prone to fraying. I would never think of using it and would, probably, go with stiffened silk tulle instead. We had a little bit over three days before hats to be completed and shipped and, of course, Crin could not care less about time concerns. For me it was a bit of a struggle: invisible stitching (I thought I perfected that skill, I was wrong) in combination with attaching Crin to the wire structures proved to be a difficult task. Despite all of it, I will never be able to fully express to you the feeling of pure joy and satisfaction I experienced when I saw final result on the runway. :-)
I thought all hats looked amazing, they really became a final touch to the beautiful designs by Jason Wu. Each hat seem to be so airy, so effortless and so chic. What a great talent Jason is! I absolutely fell in love with the light pink dress made out of feathers with apple green sash ribbon. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there was not a single look I would not want to have in my wardrobe. :-) 
Just as we shipped hats for Jason Wu, another order from New York, this time from Donna Karan, went into production. I hoped for a little break after such an intense production for Jason Wu and will never forget how amazing Deborah Miller ( the right hand of Mr' Jones and the head of the production) smiled at me and said "Well, darling, welcome to Stephen Jones Millinery!":-)
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
Backstage at Jason Wu Spring Summer 2010
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