Stephen Jones topped off London's most intense summer-party week with a flamboyant 25th-anniversary bash thrown in true English-eccentric style. Britain's wittiest and most erudite milliner took over the exotic arts-and-crafts 1906 Debenham House in Holland Park, planted his hats—including a tea-cake-covered creation made for Madonna—in the garden borders, and let in a horde of revelers. Taking care of the last-minute details, Jones popped a tiny, sequined top hat on a statue of a nymph, and reminisced, "I was wearing this at Louise's club in 1977 when I danced with Vivienne Westwood."

The "Peacock House"—so-called because of its William de Morgan green-and-turquoise tiles and its domed, gilded Byzantine hall—made a colorful backdrop for Jones' wild, cross-generational mix of friends. On hand and in compliance with the evening's "Hats and Flowers" dress code were the original London punks and New Romantics Philip Salon, David Holah of Bodymap, and Nick Kamen, plus such eclectic faces as designer Walter Van Beirendonck and Jan de Villeneuve. Constituting the younger contingent were the latter's daughters Daisy and Poppy, Erin O'Connor, Jade Parfitt, Bay Garnett, and Katie Grand, along with designers Giles Deacon, Basso & Brooke, and Erdem, as well as a crowd of high-dressers from London's new club scene. Inside, music was supplied by The Shellac Sisters, who spin 78s and dress in vintage forties clothes, while a string quartet played the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In the U.K." on the lawn. Still, the real stars were the chic and surreal hats: flat caps, fedoras, sailor caps, fezzes, toques, pillboxes, flying crows, garlands of flowers, whooshes of feather, and even an impromtu piece of origami made out of a newspaper.

— Sarah Mower