Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
PARIS, France — Fashion can be cruel, terribly cruel. Designers who are prized as infinitely relevant in one moment, will invariably be deemed irrelevant when the cycle ends. The only way for them to survive is to adapt to the air du temps, or follow their very own path no matter what, bravely.
Jean Paul Gaultier belongs to the latter category. The times of his work being directional are long gone — even though spores of his groundbreaking provocations in the 80s continue germinating in the system in this very moment — but he keeps offering his own twisted, tongue-in-cheek version of french chic. This season there was a lot going on at once, pointing in many different directions to the height of randomness.
From Paris in the 40s to snow queens, cartoon warriors, draped divas and India, the collection spared no inspiration. Honestly, it was too much and too long to digest. Yet, it was Gaultier in top form, showing his unsurpassed skills as dressmaker. The draped tunics and broad-shouldered column dresses were truly stunning, as was the tailoring. It's the old-school theatrics, and the obsession for the theme that, at this point, are truly irrelevant.
