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“‘Allo China, this is Jean Paul calling.” As the fifty-four looks stalked down the runway inside the Gaultier head quarters in Paris, a small yet noticeable group of beautiful, delicate beauties from China (actresses no doubt) gazed up at the gazelles passing above their heads on the runway with delight in their eyes. A minor kerfuffle happened during the show when one such beauty in a floor-length evening gown was ushered in late. Gaultier is clearly welcoming them into his world. The sartorial codes are subtle but there. For example no in-your-face sexuality via bared décolletage but a femininity that’s expressed in cleverer ways: tailored, professional attire that’s ladylike and cut from soft, draped materials yet awash with Jean Paul’s play between masculine and feminine which gives strength; graffiti meets the latest in fur dying techniques to give a pop-luxe effect that fans in China and Japan will doubtlessly adore. The drama of Gaultier today is that he swings on a trapeze of what’s now that dips and arches so fabulously high that it gives one vertigo at times. The pared down, sporty leather dresses, the shiny dinner suits over draped jersey T-shirts and graffiti print skirts worked really well. The dyed, multi length fur and sheepskin, all snip-snipped by Gaultier’s scissors and turned into punky dresses and edgy winter coats felt au courant too. Then there were the brightly dyed python suits and the clouds of taffeta that took us off to another direction. A huge collection, buyers from the world over will today move en masse towards the showroom to examine and decide what they believe will be scooped off the shop rails next winter. And if the key codes of Gaultier’s aesthetic is adopted by the starlets and socialites of China to wear on red carpets, events and ceremonies, well that would be wonderful.
Text: Sarah Hay
Photography: Mitchell Sams
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