The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier
From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk
I had the most amazing day today at the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition in Rotterdam and would like to share some impressions with you.
Upon arriving in Rotterdam we couldn't help but notice the reference to JPG everywhere, and I loved every second of it! How amazing are these gaultiered trees?!
from the exhibition:
"The exhibition's various sections provide a thematic approach to the world of Jean Paul Gaultier, tracing the influences, from the streets of Paris to the world of science fiction, that have shaped the couturier's creative development. Holding up a mirror to the society that has marked his times, this exhibition, which Gaultier considers his "biggest show ever," is punctuated by many excerpts from videos, some of them previously unreleased, as well as many never-before-exhibited prints from the greatest names in fashion and art photography, including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Robert Doisneau, Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts, Pierre et Gilles, Mario Testino, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Ellen von Unwerth and Bettina Rheims, to name just a few."
The exhibition started with the Odyssey Room. We got to see the most stunning, magical, pearl-encrusted Haute Couture designs I had ever seen from close up, you could really get your nose close to those stunning creations to get a good look at all the details on the dresses. The mannequins were equally fascinating and eery, their faces were projected on and were animated.
They looked amazingly real and were really looking at you, smiling, winking, raising their eyebrows at you and some were even talking.
The first seven dresses were from the Virgins (of Madonnas) collection,
worn by mannequins that were all together singing an entrancing song.
dress Ex-voto, haute couture spring/summer 2007
dress Auréole, haute couture spring/summer 2007
"Regulated by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, haute couture is shown exclusively in Paris. Couture houses must comply with very specific requirements regarding how garments are made, presented and sold. Unlike industrially produced prêt-à-porter, couture is a fine craft whose one-of-a-kind objects are the product of exceptional technical virtuosity. Creating certain designs sometimes necessitates hundreds of hours of work. Everything involved in a couture garment-from embroidery and lace to accessories and the final finishing touches-must be entirely accomplished by hand. Even though it receives a great deal of media attention, rarely is the general public afforded a direct experience of haute couture."
dress Dolorés, haute couture spring/summer 2007
dress Apparitions, haute couture spring/summer 2007
dress Immaculata,
haute couture spring/summer 2007
haute couture spring/summer 2007
takes crochet work to a whole new level...
Kylie Minogue wores this dress in her "Like a Drug" video.
dress Guadalupe, haute couture spring/summer 2007
This is the first dress that Jean Paul Gaultier made in the summer of 1971.
dress from the Russia collection, haute couture fall/winter 1997-1998
We then got to see the beautiful Mermaids collection.
weddingdress La Mariée, haute couture spring/summer 2008
dress La Bal des sirénes, haute couture spring/summer 2008
Jean Paul Gaultier himself (well, his
mannequin self) told us about his Odyssey; from seeing a pink satin
corset in his grandmothers house to then designing a corset for
his teddy bear, Nana, out of newspaper and using his grandmothers make up on Nana for that model glamour look - a designer was born.
We then got to see his signature nautical designs - yay for stripes!
Tribute To Africa collection, Haute couture spring/summer 2005
Romantic India collection, Lascar dress, Haute couture spring/summer 2000
worn by Caroline van Monacoin 2000
House of Pleasures collection, men’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1997
worn by Caroline van Monacoin 2000
Boy Toy collection, men’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1984
Pin-Up Boys collection, men’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1996
Sleepy Hollow collection, woman’s prêt-à-porter fall/winter 2006-2007
Ze Parisienne collection, ensemble Bateau-Lavoir, haute couture spring/summer 2002
“It all started when I found my grandmother’s corset”
- Jean Paul Gaultier -
The second room was The Boudoir, and we dove into a world of corsets and other gowns of the night, including the famous corsets worn by Madonna on her Blond Ambition World Tour.
And we got to see Nana, the beginning of all evil fun!
Barbès collection, women’s prêt-à-porter fall/winter 1984 – 1985
"Brought up by strong women, the couturier does not subscribe to the myth of the weaker sex. With derisive humor, he reinterprets the signs of the imprisoned female body. The hoops or cage crinolines of the nineteenth century symbolically confined women to their roles as wives and mothers, while the corsets of those times served, among other things, to conceal an abdomen swollen by pregnancy—a sight then deemed indecent because of religious considerations. For his part, Jean Paul Gaultier has chosen to design a corset that instead emphasizes the fulfillment of the modern expectant mother. By reworking that garment, he has offered the attributes of womanliness to those denied them. The runway show for his Dada collection (spring/summer 1983) showcased the exaggerated breasts of totemic African fertility symbols, an assertion of women's power. He has also given men the opportunity to once again don corsets, as did the dandies and English military men of the nineteenth century, who wore them to improve their strength and endurance."
costume sketches from Gaultier for Madonna.
Around the World in 168 Outfits collection, women’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1989
worn in black by Grace Jones 1989
at the international Rock Awards in New York
right: House of Pleasures collection, men’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1997, satin fan corset
left: Dada collection, women’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1983, his first corset dress,
also worn by Dita von Teese for Flaunt in 2003.
"Brought up by strong women, the couturier does not subscribe to the myth of
the weaker sex. With derisive humor, he reinterprets the signs of the imprisoned
female body. The hoops or cage crinolines of the nineteenth century
symbolically confined women to their roles as wives and mothers, while the
corsets of those times served, among other things, to conceal an abdomen
swollen by pregnancy—a sight then deemed indecent because of religious
considerations. For his part, Jean Paul Gaultier has chosen to design a corset
that instead emphasizes the fulfillment of the modern expectant mother.
By reworking that garment, he has offered the attributes of womanliness to
those denied them. The runway show for his Dada collection (spring/summer
1983) showcased the exaggerated breasts of totemic African fertility symbols,
an assertion of women's power. He has also given men the opportunity to once
again don corsets, as did the dandies and English military men of the nineteenth
century, who wore them to improve their strength and endurance."
Tribute to Africa collection, bustier Ashanti, Haute couture spring/summer 2005,
made fom chiffon and woven straw!
made fom chiffon and woven straw!
Tattoos collection, women’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1994
3-D leather cage corset, worn by Madonna on her 2012 MDNA World Tour
The Next room, Skin Deep, pays tribute to Gaultiers fascination with the human body and he goes to town an all conventions, playing with the roles of the genders, and pushing boundaries all over the place. A feast for the eyes, bathed in red light.
bodystocking worn by Mylène Farmer on her No.5 Tour in 2009
Morphing collection
Parisiennes collection, worn by Dita Von Teese during Gaultiers fashion show
left: Ze parisienne collection, dress French Cancan, Haute couture spring/summer 2002,
worn by Carla Bruni during the fashion show
Ze parisienne collection, Haute couture spring/summer 2002
right: collection Puppets, prêt-à-porter fall/winter 2004-2005
left: collection Gaultier Classic Revisited, women's prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1993,
worn by Naomi Campbell for a Paolo Roversi picture
costume worn by Madonna during her Confession Tour in 2006
left: Women Among Women collection, women's prêt-à-porter fall/winter 1989-1990
"In opposition to the rule of thin, he has offered the sensuality of plus sizes, and
sent out a powerful message:
Be yourself, no matter what nature has dealt you!"
On we went to the next room titled
Punk CanCan,
it being a mixture of British Punk meets Paris Chic meets extremely cool denim outfits.
"Traveling to London in the early 1970s, he got his first look at the styles adopted
by the punks of Trafalgar Square, whose alternative artistry would stimulate new
aesthetic codes. Punk's antimaterialist principles would have an influence on the
designer, enabling him to explore a nonconformist fashion. He found inspiration
and new materials in the energy of London's streets, Vivienne Westwood and
Malcolm McLaren's SEX boutique and, with David Bowie and his alter ego Ziggy
Stardust at its head, the glam rock movement. A couturier with a punk soul,
he adopted the concepts of recycling and the offbeat, penury forcing him to be
inventive. The total rebellion, the trash, "destroy" look appealed to him:
"…the raw side of punk, with its Mohawk haircuts, almost tribal makeup,
allusions to sex, torn fishnet stockings, black, kilts, bondage straps, mixing of
genders and materials—all that spoke to me, suiting me much better than some
of the ossified conventions of the couture."
"Jean Paul Gaultier was born in the suburbs of Paris, but his heart beats to the rhythm of both rough-and-ready Paris and rock-attitude London. He is fascinated by the Paris of the Belle Époque and the interwar years, the Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec and the Moulin Rouge, the colorful throngs crowding the streets of the Barbès area and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. He loves the postcard Paris that calls to mind the Parisians in Brassaï photographs, the denizens of the city's bistros and cabarets. These many visions of Paris set the scene for the multifaceted character whom Jean Paul Gaultier unflaggingly pays court to: the Parisienne."
The next room was called Urban Jungle, the accompanying text to this part of the exhibition called it also "Planet Gaultier", which I found very fitting. We got taken on a trip around the world Gaultier style, so amazing!
"Fascinated by differences, Jean Paul Gaultier sees stylistic hunting grounds in those realms untouched by the hallowed halls of fashion. Transposing, reappropriating and assembling, he gives shape to transborder crossfertilization. Societies and individuals separated by language, custom and geography merge into a world whose passports proclaim "Planet Gaultier." Through his designs, the couturier orchestrates an intercultural dialogue."
The last part of the exhibition, called Metropolis, pays homage to the world of film, tv, pop culture and multimedia.
"Beginning in the late 1970s, Gaultier borrowed from the realms of science fiction and the emerging sounds of new wave and house music. He stayed ahead of the fashion pack by introducing high-tech materials such as vinyl, lycra and neoprene to prêt-à-porter, and by creating innovative blends, such as neoprene-coated leather, as well as 3-D and even inflatable fabrics!"
"As a child during the television era, fascinated by movies and variety shows, Jean Paul Gaultier absorbed culture through the lens of the small screen. Fashion interested him only insofar as he could turn it into spectacle. He saw runway shows as happenings, trips to special worlds of his devising, with their own original soundtracks, decors and unusual casting choices. As the co-host of the program Eurotrash, he was the first fashion designer to become a television star. That new status as a media darling coincided with the rise of fashion as a powerful form of expression in an image-obsessed society."
"His futuristic vision of fashion has also been reflected in his memorable
collaborations with stars of
the pop and rock world, who wear his designs on
stage or in their videos. Many music artists have availed themselves of his talent
for setting trends: Tina Turner, Nirvana, Lady Gaga, Les Rita Mitsouko, Red Hot
Chili Peppers, Niagara, Neneh Cherry, Depeche Mode, Beyoncé, Yvette Horner,
Mylène Farmer, Boy George, Cameo, Kylie Minogue and, of course, Madonna."
Conclution: This exhibition is a feast for the eyes and the senses, I can only recommend it to everyone even if you are only slightly interested in fashion. The amazing designs, the colors, the sparkles, the mood of the different rooms, down to the talking, moving mannequins are totally worth a trip.
And the coolest thing of all, Jean Paul Gaultier is a self taught artist! How cool is that?
It gives me so much inspiration to just go with what I like and enjoy.
The exhibition will still be in the Kunsthal Rotterdam until the 12th of may, it will then move on to Montreal from 15 June - 22 September 2013, so for us euros, go there while it is still in the area! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment