The fashion icon jean paul Gaultier who, in fifty years of career, has become one of the symbols of French luxury, will say farewell to haute couture fashion shows in Paris on Wednesday.
“On January 22, 2020, I will celebrate my 50th career in fashion with a major Haute Couture fashion show at the Théâtre du Châtelet. It will also be my last show. ”
“But rest assured, the Couture Gaultier Paris house continues, with a new project which I am the instigator and which will be revealed to you soon”, said the fashion designer on Friday, January 17, without further details.
This announcement comes in the middle of Paris fashion week, just before the opening of the haute couture fashion shows which will take over from Monday for men’s fashion shows.
Mix of genres
The 67-year-old French designer, who made his debut notably with Pierre Cardin, is an essential figure in the world of couture, known for having shaken up dress codes in the 1980s, to the point of being called an iconoclast. . He is the author of creations that have become cult, such as the conical beanie bustier worn by Madonna, or her famous sailor sweater and her sailor shirts, a memory of her grandmother. “Who dressed him in blue”.
Since his first collections, Gaultier has had the art of mixing genders, genders, eras, the banter of popular streets and the distinction of beautiful neighborhoods: chic rappers, dainty geishas, corseted and male casseroles in skirts and high heels.
He created the revolution by being one of the first to showcase senior models and overweight or tattooed women. So in the 1980s, he placed an ad in the newspaper Release : “Non-conforming designer is looking for atypical models. Broken Jaws Do Not Refrain “.
During Paris fashion week in July 2014, he invites the parade of the bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, Eurovision winner, as well as a pregnant woman in a wedding dress.
“From your first collection in 1976, you questioned the criteria of taste and bad taste. You shocked, disturbed and annoyed while having fun blurring the lines with an ambivalent and interchangeable wardrobe ”, launched Pierre Cardin in 2001 by awarding him the Legion of Honor.
“The terrible child of fashion”
This accountant’s son, who grew up in Arcueil (Val-de-Marne), near Paris, and who was introduced to sewing at a very young age by his esthetician grandmother, thus created skirts for men since 1984 because for him , “A man does not wear his masculinity on his clothes, his manhood is in his head”.
Considered in the past as “Fashion’s child”, its name has become a showcase of French luxury, thanks in particular to its line of perfumes launched in 1991.
He also made himself known for his striking costumes in several films, including The fifth Element, by Luc Besson, and the films by Pedro Almodovar, Kika, Bad Education or La Piel que habito.
In 2003, his arrival at Hermès, until then the official temple of classic and discreet luxury, shakes up the fashion world: he succeeds in giving it a serious facelift by bringing fantasy and freshness, while remaining within its codes.
He gave up fur in 2018
Very pop culture, he plays his own role in the film Ready to wear, by Robert Altman, and, with Antoine de Caunes, he hosted the British program Eurotrash. He also creates costumes for many dance performances including the famous Parade (1985) by choreographer Régine Chopinot.
In 2018 he announced that he was giving up fur, a “Strong gesture” praised by associations for the protection of animals, stating that he now preferred the path of recycling. “You have to recycle the clothes, which I did since my beginnings, in my first collection, I recycled old jeans, stuff in camouflage, I cut them in all directions. I think you can do the same with fur “said the one who had told his story in a colorful magazine last year at the Folies Bergère.
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