Stephen Jones A/W16-17 – Madame Jojo | Photo by MoMu Antwerp/Stany Dederen

When Stephen Jones makes hats, he invents complete characters. Jones’ private thrill in building a millinery collection is to gradually develop personalities, tell different stories, and unravel various adventures. Soho or London’s Gilded Gutter forms the theme of his A/W 2016-17 collection that just arrived in the MoMu collection thanks to a long-term loan by Geert Bruloot and Eddy Michiels. This party-inspired collection captures the bohemia intrinsic to his beloved Soho: That dodgy never-never land, that hallucinated enclave, where we waited, consumed by angst, to cure today’s hangover by making certain of tomorrow’s (George Melly).

Stephen Jones A/W16-17 – 999 | Photo by MoMu Antwerp/Stany Dederen

Stephen Jones burst on to the London fashion scene during its explosion of street style in the late seventies. By day, he was a hard-working student at Central St. Martins; after dark he was one of that era’s uncompromising style-blazers at the legendary Blitz nightclub. With his Soho collection he brings an eclectic ode to the district in central London and explores different characters of the night: a Barbie-dancing queen, a British crown in fetish red lacquer, a knitted beret for a St Martin’s student, and a fluffy Parisian-chic fur hat with a burning cigarette.

Stephen Jones A/W16-17 – 69 Beret | Photo by MoMu Antwerp/Stany Dederen