04/26/12 - 0 Comments
Bon Anniversaire, Jean Paul Gaultier!
It’s a big year for Jean Paul Gaultier. As well as celebrating his 60th birthday yesterday, the French designer is currently the subject of a massive museum retrospective.
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is on tour now, finishing in San Francisco’s de Young Museum in August. Here’s a brief look at the enfant terrible’s most memorable projects to date, from the visually stunning to the downright bizarre:
An obvious place to begin is with Gaultier’s collaborations with pop icon Madonna – the designer was responsible for some of Madonna’s most memorable style statements, not least the conical bra, designed for her Confessions tour in 1990.The bra single-handedly reinvented stage-wear, and is said to have been developed from a prototype the eight-year old Gaultier devised for his teddy bear!
Gaultier’s perfume ranges have been stupendously successful. His fragrances, including the Classique range, with iconic pink and blue bottles shaped like a curvaceous woman and rather brawny man, are now estimated to have earned 25 times the amount of his fashion activities.
The designer released a collaborative film project with Lady Gaga in September 2011, discussing the transformative power of fashion. ‘Gaga by Gaultier’ took place in the designer’s Paris studio, where the pair talked all things fashion – specifically, how it can become a powerful form of visual art and expression. The chart-topping singer spoke about how Gaultier’s designs influence her work, and how she uses that power to communicate ideas to her “Little Monsters”.
Gaultier charmed Eurotrash fans when he presented the show from 1993 – the late-night, magazine-format program gave a comical review of weird and wonderful topics from around the world. Topics covered included rabbit-showjumping, singing dogs, ‘nude cleaning services’, magicians and porn stars.
Gaultier’s whimsical stylistic genius was recognized by Hermes in 2003, as they appointed him Creative Director until 2010. He also got to flex his creative muscles in 1997, living out every costume designer’s dream by creating the outfits for Sci-fi thriller The Fifth Element. And who could have imagined that skirts for men would one day become fashionable?
Let’s hope Jean Paul Gaultier continues to shock, inspire and enrage for decades to come.
