In an enormous and beautifully presented collection of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s work, the Brooklyn Museum transports visitors to the dreamlike world of Gaultier’s imagination.
Dimly-lit rooms with padded, quilted walls displays Gaultier’s earlier, romantic designs, like the intricate ribbon dress below:
A makeshift Red-Light District exhibits the bondage-inspired designs for which the designer became well-known:
While I never thought I’d be one to rock pointy-nippled corset tops à la Madonna the Material Girl, the show had me seriously reconsidering my sartorial choices.
I think I could pull off something like this, no?
In all seriousness, though, the expansive installation manages to capture the extraordinary breadth of Gaultier’s creations while paying due tribute to the creative capacity and intense craftsmanship behind each design. The result is a stunning display which transports us through the designer’s remarkable career, interjecting serious fashion with personal quirks. Among the couture displays, for example, is a case containing a stuffed bear Gaultier had as a child, on which he’s crafted his infamous pointed bra out of newspaper.
Some of my favorite looks below, ranging from regal to tongue-in-cheek (and sometimes a little bit of both…):
Also shown are furniture designs Gaultier produced for Roche Bobois (admittedly I had no idea he ever forayed into interior design, but the results are unsurprisingly clever), including these funky wheeled seats. One absolutely hilarious protester of museum bureaucracy idiot visitor sat on one while her friend snapped a picture, prompting many disapproving glares from the serious fashion types, for which, for once, I was grateful.
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