Jean Paul Gaultier Grand

Couturier

Biography ❖ Born April 24, 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de- Marne, France. Early Influences

❖ 1976: Sketches published in Mode Internationale, a French fashion magazine. ❖ 1976: Launched his design career under his own label with Mayagor.

▪ A ‘prodigy’ of fashion design.

▪ At age 17, sends his design sketches to Parisian designer Pierre Cardin, who immediately hires him as his design assistant.

▪ Spends a year designing for Jacques Esterel before joining the House of Patou in Paris. For three years, he works with and learns from other talented designers, such as Angelo Tarlazzi and Michael Goma.

Moments of Significance • 1985: Introduces man-skirts.

• 1987: Receives the coveted French Designer of the Year Award.

• 1988: Launches a lower-priced sportswear line called Junior Gaultier.

• 1990s: Designs sculptured costumes for Madonna, including her infamous cone-bra.

• 1997: Launches his own haute couture collection, displaying it for the first time in a

Paris show. It included both mens and womenswear.

• 1999: Hermes invests $15 million in Gaultier’s business.

• 2000: CFDA presents him with the International Award.

• 2005: Introduces the unisex “fragrance for humanity”, Gaultier.

The Bad Boy of the Fashion World

“Labeled an enfant terrible early on, [Gaultier] has designed collections based on Hasidic Jews and the sealskins of Inuits and showed T-shirts emblazoned with a crucified Christ. With his spiky bleached-blond hair and MTV-generation antics (he once sent disapproving editors live turkeys), he's cultivated a flamboyant public persona that was magnified when he co-hosted the nonsensical show Eurotrash in the nineties. Theatrics aside, Gaultier is credited with pioneering innerwear as outerwear, promoting ethnic and gender-bending dress, and popularizing the use of stretch fabrics in his signature skintight bodysuit…” –Style.com

Design Philosophy:

Design

He was influenced by his grandmother, a hairdresser and tarot card reader.

Bold colors, animals, and exaggerated details reflect his fascination with Africa.

“I am for equality of gender.”

His avant-garde designs drew heavily from the street scenes of

London and Paris and pop culture – funky, playful, and extraordinary.

Spring 09 RTW Inner Wear as Outer Wear.

Fall 10 Couture Gender

Hybridization.

Spring 05 Couture Tribal & African

Influence.

Fall 03 RTW Streetwear.

His Look

flamboyant , bright , theatrical colors - - - dark leathers

The Fifth Element, Manson, & Blond Ambition

Perfumes ♦ 1993: First fragrance, Classique, is introduced. ♦ 1995: Releases Le Mâle. ♦ 2000: Releases the woman’s fragrance Fragile. ♦ 2005: Releases the unisex “fragrance for humanity”, Gaultier. ♦ 2007: Launches Fleur du Mâle and Eau de Cologne Fleur du Mâle. ♦ Latest fragrance is Madame.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Gaultier

http://www.answers.com/topic/jean-paul-gaultier

Gaultier with Beth Ditto.

http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/\http://www.essortment.com/jean-paul-gaultier-44766.html http://www.style.com/fashionshows/designerdirectory/JPGAULTI/seasons/ http://www.instyle.com/instyle/fashiondesigners/keymoments/0,,20226065_jean-paul-gaultier_20237620,00.html http://www.infomat.com/whoswho/jeanpaulgaultier.html

Anne Chen