Dragons will fly – Stephen Jones’s dragon hat moves to the Pavilion

We are currently selecting colourful and shiny objects from our collections for inclusion in a new exhibition: COLOUR, opening at the Royal Pavilion in March 2025.

Alexandra Loske (Curator – Royal Pavilion & Historic Properties) has been looking through the dress and costume collection with Martin Pel (Curator – Textiles ＆ Costume), and there is one object that ticks the box ‘George IV style bling’ particularly well: a unique hat (or rather, a headpiece) designed by Stephen Jones for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) exhibition China; Through the Looking Glass (2015).

Stephen Jones undertook research at the Royal Pavilion in 2013 and took inspiration for this and seven other hats. They were included in our own exhibition Stephen Jones Hats at the Royal Pavilion (2018/19) and later acquired for our collection.

In 2025 this dragon hat will probably feature in a section on gold and silver in the Royal Pavilion’s Saloon. The fragile object, made of gold-sprayed Perspex and metal, was moved from the costume store to the Pavilion, in order to see its condition and consider possible display options. How comfortable do you think it is to wear?