Stephen Jones turns Australian gardens into a spring hat collection
British hat designer Stephen Jones has turned Australia, its multicultural landscape and the flowers of the country's Royal Botanical Gardens into a spring hat collection.
He said he wanted a happy collection inspired by nature and simply optimistic. The account was published on 20 September 2026. WWD
Millinery, the making of hats, is his trade. At the centre of the range is the wattle, Australia's national flower. Jones has remade it as an exploding headdress of yellow tulle blossoms. Tulle is a fine, stiff net often used to hold shape.
Other pieces speak to communities connected to Australia. A hot pink peony hat trimmed with feathers carries tiny black ants. Jones links the flower and the insect to admiration for both in China. A separate cane-work trellis hat is entangled with jasmine vines. The vine points to the national flower of the Philippines.
New Zealand's silver fern becomes a Perspex tiara set with rhinestones. Perspex is a clear, hard plastic. Further headpieces present the cedar of Lebanon and the rose of Sharon. Another pairing presents the lotus and the mimosa. The mimosa is worked as yellow pompoms popping from the top of a hat.
The collection follows other recent Australian work. Jones created hats for the Westwood | Kawakubo exhibition in Melbourne, which wrapped last April. The link goes back further. The National Gallery in Canberra, Australia's national art museum, was the first museum to acquire his hats for a public collection in the 1980s.
Jones was also near a career marker. He was due to mark 30 years of work with Dior, the French fashion house, within weeks of the report.
An earlier Spring 2026 collection drew on a different starting point, the changing sky from dawn. Separately, Jones worked with artist Khalid Benkaroum on an abstract multicoloured print. The print appears on JonesBoy hats and caps.
What makes this stand out is the use of plants. Each bloom points to a place and a community as well as a garden. Flowers do the talking. Colour does the rest. A closer look gives a second idea, as small details shift the mood from pretty to playful.
