Swarovski is very proud to support The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gautier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which opened in Paris at the Grand Palais on March 31, 2015. The exhibition celebrates haute couture legend Jean Paul Gaultier’s sparkling forty-year career.
Having toured nine cities in six countries and been seen by over a million visitors, the Jean Paul Gaultier retrospective has arrived at Paris’ famous landmark, the Grand Palais museum. Launched with a sensational gala event on March 31 attended by a constellation of fashion industry stars and VIPs, it will be open to the public until August 3, 2015.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s mischievous fascination with counterculture, androgyny and humor has produced a fashion archive full of wit, charm and daring that goes back nearly forty years. From the earliest days of his maison, the couturier embellished his creations with crystals from Swarovski. So it is fitting that this master of surprise, who is equally respected for his obsessive attention to the most demanding techniques of haute couture, should be honored with a major retrospective global exhibition, which originally debuted at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Canada.
More theatrical installation than conventional exhibition, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gautier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk offers unexpected twists and turns. There are mannequins with animated faces, iconic showbiz costumes created for Madonna, Dita Von Teese, Kylie Minogue and Beth Ditto, among others, along with film footage, fashion shows, sketches, concerts and dance performances. Among the 165 costumes and clothes on display are some stunning pieces of jewelry, along with standout examples of haute couture, some of which showcase Swarovski crystal in completely original ways. Examples include the designer’s fiercely glamorous Diamond Rocker take on the rock-‘n’-roll classic, the biker jacket: reinvented in denim, it is trimmed with edgy Swarovski Crystal Spikes and Studs originally inspired by the designer himself. His Orange Baby Mesh Dress, designed for French singer Mylène Farmer in 2013 and made entirely of Swarovski Crystal Mesh, is also on display, along with two ultra-sophisticated dresses, Xenia and Mata Hari, demonstrating ingenious use of Transfer Motifs on Crystal Mesh to mimic the detailed patterning on big cats in the wild. Crystal Mesh sportswear can also be seen worn with a steel corset, plus a dreamy wedding outfit delicately embroidered with clear Swarovski crystals.
With a guest list resembling a celebrity Who’s Who that included the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Inès de la Fressange and Kylie Minogue, guests toured the exhibition before being served cocktails and entertained by the beautifully subversive French singing sensation, Christine and the Queens.
In a year that started with a groundbreaking collaboration—the Kaputt crystal designed by Jean Paul Gaultier—Swarovski looks forward to some exciting partnerships still to come. This will include the next leg of the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition, also supported by Swarovski: From Paris, it will travel to the HypoKulturhalle in Munich from September 18, 2015–February 14, 2016.
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gautier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk can be seen at Grand Palais Galeries nationales, 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris from April 1–August 3, 2015.
