Dress like Jean Paul: the new ready-to-wear collection by Jean Paul Gaultier
The Maison presents a collection that revisits two iconic garments from its history, the kilt and the marinière, inspired by the personal style of its founder which is interpreted by the performative artist Alexis Stone
Year 1994,Jean-Marie Périer photographs Jean Paul Gaultier wearing a kilt and a marinière in a hotel room for ELLE magazine. Thirty years later, this photo represents Gaultier's legacy: the two garments, present since the 1980s in the designer's men's and women's collections, represent the emblem of the brand. Today, the marinière and the kilt merge to give life to a new collection.
The universe of sailors has been present on the brand's catwalks since the 1980s: in the 1984 " Homme Objet " prêt-à-porter collection, the sailors who celebrate inclusiveness have a customizable label on the outside, in the re-edition from the 2001 collection " Mort à Venise " an enormous heart is carved on the jersey marinières. For the accessories instead, the heart and the anchor are become a necklace with a silver pendant, inspired by the 1982 film "Querelle", based on the novel by Jean Genet in which a young sailor fascinates everyone around him. The protagonist wears a cotton tank top with a low neckline: the garment alludes to the gender-fluid sex-appeal.
The Scottish kilt on the other hand, a garment present both on the catwalks and in the daily life of the designer, it has appeared since the first men's collections of the Maison, making it an affordable and genderless garment.
DRESS LIKE JEAN PAUL is a collection full of trompe l'oeil prints : transparent tops appear full of crepe, a black cotton jersey T-shirt is printed with a marinière. The kilt, made of traditional Scottish tartan, is presented in its original version and in many other variations, from those in stretch tulle to swimsuits.
Dresses made of stretch tulle, a material that debuted on the Maison's catwalks in the 1990s, enhance the silhouette.
The Ad campaign created for the collection and shot by Grant-James Thomas in the Parisian district of Les Halles, features the participation of Alexis Stone , an expert in physical transformations, in the role of Jean Paul Gaultier.
About Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexis Stone says: “ I have always perceived the work of Jean Paul Gaultier as free and obvious. His creations encourage you to be yourself, whoever you are. This is exactly what fashion should inspire when it's done right. And that's why turning into Jean Paul Gaultier was easy, because I see myself in this community that he created. ”
