French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier has shown his last haute couture show in Paris.
The extravaganza celebrated Gaultier’s 50th anniversary in fashion, and he definitely wasn’t going to bow out without a bit of drama.
This show celebrating 50 years of my career will also be my last. But rest assured Haute Couture will continue with a new concept. pic.twitter.com/PJCC53K4tm
— Jean Paul Gaultier (@JPGaultier) January 17, 2020
Models like Gigi and Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, Paris Jackson, Karen Elson, Dita Von Teese and Karlie Kloss took to the runway at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet to celebrate Gaultier, with Boy George singing a cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.
Even though it was a farewell, Gaultier has said: "Haute Couture will continue with a new concept".
CNN reports the 67-year-old said after the show: "It was a pleasure for me to make a party of it. Not exactly what was supposed to happen, happened. But it doesn’t matter, it’s part of life. In life, you have to be a chameleon."
This very much sums up Gaultier’s varied career in fashion. He’s dressed everyone from Madonna to Cate Blanchett, building a reputation for making sexy, rebellious clothes.
Since 2015, he let go of his ready-to-wear collections and has been focusing on haute couture. It might be the designer’s final official show, but it’s unlikely to be the last we see of him. Besides, the imprint Gaultier has left on fashion is indelible.
He famously collaborated with Madonna
Even if you don’t know anything about Gaultier, you’ll know about his most iconic creation: Madonna’s cone bra. He created costumes for her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour, which most prominently featured a silk corset with protruding bosoms, which remains one of Madonna’s most recognisable looks.
Corsets like this were a regular motif in Gaultier’s work, and were as subversive as you can expect from the French designer. He took this symbol of restriction and made it into a celebration of female sexuality and freedom.
He kept fashion weird and wonderful
Few characters are quite so unique as Gaultier. He was always taking inspiration from unusual places, once even making a dress out of a trash bag. Sailors might not seem like particularly suitable for couture , but Gaultier was obsessed with them and often recreated classic bretons in his work. For his final show, Gigi Hadid walked the catwalk in a blue and white sailing outfit, complete with a jaunty hat.
Since 2018, Gaultier’s all-singing, all-dancing variety show called the Fashion Freak Show has been travelling around the world, tracking his life in fashion through music and outfits. It’s a bizarre look into Gaultier’s brain, with giant teddy bears wearing cone bras and a whole section dedicated to plastic surgery.
Raising awareness around waste in fashion
With the climate crisis escalating, the fashion industry has come under scrutiny for how polluting it is – something Gaultier has strongly and consistently condemned. Last year, he told BBC News big brands were hurting the planet by making "far too many collections with far too many clothes", adding: "Some people destroy the clothes, they burn them. It’s scandalous."
For Gaultier’s final show, he sent over 200 looks down the runway – but it wasn’t all new clothes. Gaultier stayed true to his values of sustainability, and many of the outfits were recycled from previous collections, such as a miniskirt made from various biker jackets stitched together.
He’s been a red carpet favourite for years
Even though Gaultier’s outlandish style suited models and popstars, he also knew how to keep things sophisticated. Actors often chose to wear his designs on the red carpet – like Nicole Kidman, who picked up an Oscar in 2003 in his three-strap twisted gown, or Cate Blanchett, who wore one of his backless creations with gold jewellery to the 2000 Academy Awards.
When not designing for the runway or red carpet, Gaultier also created wardrobes for films, most famously Luc Besson’s sci-fi movie The Fifth Element in 1997.
His protégés
There’s a reason Gaultier is known affectionately as the enfant terrible of fashion. Since his first show he’s flouted fashion’s expectations and featured models of all races, sizes and gender identities in his shows.
His legacy will perhaps be most keenly felt in the people who worked for him. Some of the biggest designers in the world learned from Gaultier, from Martin Margiela to Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière, who bring the same kind of avant-garde flavour into their work.
