Stephen Jones Millinery Brings a Rainbow to London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week has always thrived on spectacle. This season, one of fashion’s most celebrated milliners reminded the industry why accessories often say more than any hemline or tailored lapel. Stephen Jones Millinery unveiled A Rainbow in Curved Air for Spring/Summer 2026 — a collection that married art, music, and the theatre of dressing with the kind of flamboyant mastery only Jones can conjure.

Geneviève Fath An Iris headdress in gelatined chiffon and tulle ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ Spring Summer 2026 Stephen Jones Millinery Photographed by Paul Bryan

The title alone signals the dreamscape he invites us into. It references both Terry Riley’s 1969 psychedelic LP A Rainbow in Curved Air and the designer’s own pilgrimage to the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, where the exhibition Colour sparked ideas of light, shade, and shifting hues. There’s a circularity here too: Sonja Christina, lead singer of the band Curved Air, was Jones’ first client when he arrived in London back in 1976. Nearly fifty years later, her presence echoes like a talisman in this kaleidoscopic body of work.

At London Fashion Week, where minimalism often rubs shoulders with conceptual excess, Jones found a way to bridge both worlds. His hats were less about quiet understatement and more about orchestrated daydreams — bold, witty, and unafraid of colour. The collection is staged as a journey through a day: Dawn, Noon, and Dusk, each time frame realised through fabric, silhouette, and fantasy.

 Babe A grosgrain and tulle sun hat with tassels ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ Spring Summer 2026 Stephen Jones Millinery Photographed by Paul Bryan

Dawn broke with whimsy. Guests were introduced to a pink silk satin eye mask, complete with embroidered eyelids and a feather halo, the kind of playful surrealism Jones has built his legacy on. There was an abstract headdress that captured the flutter of lemon-coloured bird wings, while azure bows, reminiscent of Gainsborough’s Countess Howe, spiralled into a bergère hat. It was soft, romantic, but with the sharp wit that makes a Stephen Jones piece instantly recognisable.

By Noon, brightness took over. An oval crown glittered with rhinestone rays, a literal ode to the sun. Elsewhere, a straw sculpted into the aerodynamic wing of Prince’s Little Red Corvette blurred the line between pop culture and craft. Even Jones’ signature top hat transformed into a rose pergola, draped with silk and a florist’s bow — as if an English garden had collided with rock ’n’ roll.

Gloria Swanson A bow turban in lamé and tulle ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ Spring Summer 2026 Stephen Jones Millinery Photographed by Paul Bryan

Dusk carried the mood into something cinematic. An ombré chiffon scarf scattered with zodiac stars gave way to a rising crescent-moon tiara. A tiara of topaz beads framed the face like jewellery refracted through twilight. The pièce de résistance? A cascade of amethyst-coloured chiffon and tulle, blooming into an iris flower that seemed to shimmer between sculpture and hallucination.

The narrative extended beyond couture fantasy. The Miss Jones and JonesBoy lines brought millinery into everyday life — or at least, Jones’ vision of it. Morning coffee came with straw berets edged in glistening piping. Midday protection arrived in straw sun hats casting dramatic tulle shadows. Weddings were imagined through boaters ribboned with Petersham bows, while evenings dissolved into ruby-crystallised berets ready for dance floors at dusk.

A special collaboration added another layer. Jones worked with artist Khalid Benkaroum to produce an abstract, multicoloured print for JonesBoy hats and caps. It grounded the collection in contemporary art while reinforcing the psychedelic spirit of its title.

Dawn Chorus An abstract feather headdress ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ Spring Summer 2026 Stephen Jones Millinery Photographed by Paul Bryan

What stood out most at London Fashion Week wasn’t just Jones’ ability to design hats that are wearable works of art, but his talent for framing millinery as narrative — a diary written in straw, silk, and rhinestones. While many designers are pulling back towards stripped minimalism, Jones reminded us that fashion is as much about imagination as it is about wearability.

As the lights dimmed and the rainbow dissolved into memory, it was clear that Stephen Jones had offered more than a seasonal collection. A Rainbow in Curved Air became an invitation to see the world tinted through colour, time, and fantasy. In a week that thrives on reinvention, it was Jones’ ode to past, present, and the psychedelic possibilities of the future that stood as one of London Fashion Week’s defining statements.