(Paris) Jean Paul Gaultier assured on Wednesday that he had taken a facelift with the haute couture collection produced for his brand by the Belgian Glenn Martens, a second collaboration since he bowed out two years ago.
Posted at 12:37 p.m.
“I am delighted, delighted, delighted! It’s me and, at the same time, he went beyond that,” the 69-year-old designer told reporters backstage at the show, as part of Paris Haute Couture Week. “As if I had a facelift “, he joked.
All silhouettes are corseted and many dresses have a long train reminiscent of mermaids. Continuing the marine theme, a sheath dress is entirely embroidered with corals.
Impressive trains on a midnight blue dress and another emerald green evoke waves. Chunky knits sculpt the silhouette like this long dress in ecru wool, bare back with a slit at the back.
“I love: everything is technical, (haute) couture! It’s beyond what I could imagine, ”said Jean Paul Gaultier.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Glenn Martens is the artistic director of the Y/Project brand, where he does experimental fashion, and of the Italian giant Diesel since the end of 2020.
The joyful madness of Jean Paul Gaultier’s parades, whose models played roles on the catwalk, is no longer there. Perched on insane and uncomfortable heels, they evolve concentrated, absent-minded.
On the last pass, one of them loses a shoe, tries to put it back on, drops it, advancing one shod foot, the other bare.
Runway notes, funny with puns to christen each look, gave way to a neutral description.
To everyone’s surprise, Jean Paul Gaultier bowed out in January 2020 with a grand parade after 50 years in the business.
From now on, he invites young designers and gives them carte blanche to make an haute couture collection for him: the first was made by the Japanese Chitose Abe from Sacai in the summer of 2021.
Jean Paul Gaultier is opening up other horizons. Last project noticed: he curated the exhibition CineFashion at the Cinémathèque française, where he told the story of the evolution of women and men in fashion through film costumes.
“It’s another step. I no longer want to do fashion at all, ”he told AFP in October on the occasion of this exhibition.