The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk makes its only East coast stop in the U.S. this Friday when it opens at the Brooklyn Museum. We were lucky enough to be invited to a press preview on Wednesday attended by the mercurial designer and some fabulous older ladies in giant hats. It was a say-something hat day, but what else would you expect from a massive exhibit chronicling one of the greatest fashion careers of the 20th and 21st century? There was also no shortage of jumpsuits.
Jean Paul Gaultier has been turning fashion on its ear for the last four decades with his theatrical, avant-garde, gender-bending designs. The exhibit explores his haute couture and ready to wear collections as well as pieces he’s created off the runway, including Madonna’s iconic conical bustier, costumes he created for Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education and Luc Besson’s Fifth Element, and, in an exclusive to the Brooklyn leg of the exhibit’s tour, angel’s robes stage costumes worn by Beyoncé.
If you’re in or around New York, make sure to visit The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier. It’s massive, it’s gorgeous and it has creepy mannequins with moving faces:
The exhibit opens at the Brooklyn Museum Friday October 25 and will run through February 23, 2014. To whet your fashion appetite, let’s go on an Instagram tour of some of the show’s highlights.
Gaultier is there to greet you:
The projections really give the mannequins a gorgeous, ethereal glow, not unlike Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd right before she kills Bill Holden.
When they start blinking, though, don’t turn your back on them.
Quite literally, mermaid gowns
I later got in trouble for trying to wear this out of the museum, but excuse me for saying yes to the dress.
I swear he was flirting with me.
Blond Ambition sketches
It was nice to see Sid and Nancy back together, no grudges or anything.
Red light district
From Madge’s Confessions Tour
This was part of a catwalk show:
I was really waiting/hoping for this face to start blinking at me too.
Tulle Time
Say-something hats for days.
Here’s Gaultier meeting the press. And here’s Gaultier saying Brooklyn is “hip”:
Eh, it’s a’ight.
