Renowned British milliner Stephen Jones celebrates 30 years in fashion with a stupendous retrospective presented by Cem Hakko at the VAKKO Fashion Centre introduced to Turkey by Demet Muftuoglu and Pablo Ganguli.
STEPHEN JONES & The Accent of Fashion
at VAKKO Fashion Centre in Istanbul
8th April-8th June 2011
Creative visionary Demet Muftuoglu and cultural impresario Pablo Ganguli have joined forces again to bring the MoMu Fashion Museum exhibition ‘Stephen Jones & The Accent of Fashion’ to the VAKKO Fashion Centre presented by Cem Hakko, VAKKO Chairman in Istanbul, Turkey 8th April-8th June 2011.
‘Stephen Jones & The Accent of Fashion’ guides you through Jones’ unique world of millinery and his collaborations with many of the greatest names in the international fashion scene for three decades: Dior, Comme des Garçons, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaïa, Walter Van Beirendonck, Vivienne Westwood, Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Giles and many more. Just as accents in language lead to the correct reading and rhythm of a text, Stephen Jones’ hats add the appropriate punctuation to a designer’s fashion statement.
The exhibition also looks more closely at his work in film, music and photography, his early years in the London of the New Romantics, his unique relationship with fashion icon Anna Piaggi, his design process and the sources of inspiration behind his creations. The exhibition is built around four design themes; Adventure, Science, Rococo and Glamour.
The exhibition is particularly significant for VAKKO as Vitali Hakko himself created VAKKO in 1934 after having started a millinery shop. Today, under Cem Hakko’s leadership Vakko has established itself as Turkey’s leading luxury fashion house ranging from couture, womenswear, menswear, scarves, perfumes and home decor. In a specially constructed pavilion at the Vakko Fashion Centre where the hats will be displayed, there will also be a special section on Turkey and the Orient as an influence on Stephen Jones’ work. Vakko is proud to introduce the work of Stephen Jones to Turkish fashion and art audiences.
Mr Ganguli collaborated with Ms Muftuoglu on the Liberatum Istancool festival in July 2010. They decided to embark on another venture together after a conversation they had about their mutual desire to introduce and creative world world of Stephen Jones to Turkey as hats hold a great historic connection with both VAKKO and Turkey’s heritage.
Note from Stephen Jones:
Last year in an elegant dinner in London, pretty ladies and handsome men were honouring VS Naipaul, the British Nobel Laureate. By good fortune I was sharing a velvet banquette with a captivating Turkish lady who intrigued me with stories of the east; both antique and modern. I was fascinated, as Turkey has always been such a rich source of inspiration for my designs. Our ‘cupid’ and host was Pablo Ganguli, founder of Liberatum and the charming lady was Demet Muftuoglu, art director of VAKKO.
I described to her the art of hat design and my life on the international fashion stage. She mentioned that Vakko had originally been a hat shop when it opened in the ‘30’s. I described the amazing exhibition in MoMu fashion museum in Antwerp curated by Geert Bruloot and how hats can communicate will everyone, not only Fashionistas. Together we dreamt and devised a scheme to bring the 250 hats over the seas to Vakko….
From cocktail conversation to glamorous Istanbul!
Stephen Jones
Notes to editor:
About MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp
MoMu, the Antwerp Fashion Museum houses the largest collection of Stephen Jones hats – more than 120 items – outside Great Britain, thanks to a long-term loan by the Antwerp private collectors, Geert Bruloot and Eddy Michiels.
MoMu opened its doors in September, 2002. The museum is housed in a 19th-century building in the heart of the Antwerp fashion district and had been renovated in 2001 by the Belgian architect, Marie-José Van Hee. In less than eight years, the Fashion Museum has earned a substantial international reputation with an innovative exhibition policy, focusing considerable attention to the design of the exhibitions, in collaboration with the designers and their creative teams. The MoMu is famous for its solo exhibitions by Yohji Yamamoto, Bernhard Willhelm, Maison Martin Margiela and Stephen Jones, amongst others.
About Stephen Jones
The exhibition centres on the Bruloot-Michiels collection, which has been complemented with works from Stephen Jones’s own personal collection and archives, as well as works on loan from the following institutions, designers and fashion houses: Aitize Hanson (Jean Paul Gaultier), Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Dior, Collection Thierry Struvay, Giles, Huis A.Boon, John Galliano, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Musée des Arts et Histoires Genève – Collection Danielle Luquet de Saint Gemain (Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler), Coccodrillo, Anna Piaggi and Walter Van Beirendonck.
Following his graduation from the Saint Martins School of Art in 1979, Stephen Jones gained initial reputation for his work in the music industry through his collaborations with Boy George, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Today, with numerous collaborations with some of the world’s top designers, he is considered one of the most radical and important milliners of the century. In the last 30 years, Stephen Jones not only pushed the boundaries of our imagination through his designs but also reminded the world that the hat is never out of fashion and a valuable accessory that adds the appropriate punctuation to an outfit.
About VAKKO
In the course of the years that led to creating Turkey’s most established fashion brand out of Şen Şapka that made hats fashionable in the country back in 1934, Vakko has always been the bridge between the fashion, art and design industries. The new Vakko Fashion Center, which received the “Best Workspace” at the 2011 Wallpaper Design Awards, is the most recent embodiment of this unique vision.
Curators: Geert Bruloot & Kaat Debo, in collaboration with Stephen Jones
Exhibition design: Geert Bruloot. Special thanks to Europal Packaging.
The exhibition ‘Stephen Jones & The Accent of Fashion’ was initiated by MoMu – Fashion Museum Province of Antwerp
Exhibition Facts:
VAKKO Fashion Centre in Istanbul
8th April-8th June 2011
www.vakko.com
