GAYLETTER

I went on a date with Jean Paul Gaultier in 1991. He took me to the opening night of Madonna‘s ‘Blond Ambition‘ tour in a white stretch limo. My boss and brilliant photographer, David Seidner, friend of Jean Paul’s, couldn’t go so I went in his place. Warren Beatty sat right in front of me. The concert was banging but the date didn’t go so well, I heard him talking about me in the limo on the way back in French. Guess he thought I wouldn’t understand. How wrong he was. We pulled up at a traffic light and I wished him well in French and exited the vehicle. What an extraordinary genius he is, but I didn’t know it at the time. Not until I finished an extensive tour of his retrospective, ‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk To The Catwalk‘ opening on October 25 at the Brooklyn Museum did I realize it.

The show features 130 haute-couture and pret a porter ensembles as well as photos, videos and sketches spanning four decades of the designer’s cutting edge carreer. The custom created mannequins are brilliant. Video of human faces are precisely projected on the life-sized mannequin faces. Some talk, some cruise you and some just wink and smile. Quite honestly they left me gagging in the best way possible. There’s even one of JPG himself who greets visitors in his own voice.

All the stand outs are on view, from the iconic cone bra corsets from the ‘Blond Ambition’ tour, to his rabbi collection and on to recently worn costumes by Beyonce as well as artistic collaborations with Warhol, Avedon, Cindy Sherman, Pierres and Gilles and much more. Museum director Arnold Lehman notes, “Jean Paul Gaultier’s mastery of the complex technical demands of haute couture is matched only by his rich and unrivaled artistic collaborations.”

Make sure you leave  plenty of time in your schedule to see the show. It’s organized into seven thematic sections with titles like The Odyssey, The Boudoir and Punk Cancan (instead of in chronological order) because there is a multitude of engaging layers to “unpack.” You have until February 23 to see the exhibition but I suggest you go right away — you don’t want to be the only one at your next cocktail party with nothing to say…about the show that is.

Sketch of Madonna’s stage costumes for her Blond Ambition World Tour, 1989–90, inkjet print, 11 x 17 inches.

“Musette” ensemble from Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Ze Parisienne” haute couture spring-summer collection of 2002. Beaded sailor-striped sweater, black stretch wool pantskirt. ©Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

A design from Jean Paul Gaultier’s “French Cancan” women’s ready-to-wear fall-winter collection of 1991–92, as seen at his thirtieth anniversary retrospective runway show, October 2006. ©Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

The images below are from our visit to the museum, photographed by GAYLETTER.

$12, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY.