Unlike most little girls, I didn’t want a pony. I wanted to be a horse, a Palomino to be exact.
Jean Paul Gaultier provided the next best thing in his last collection from Hermes. Gaultier will forever be remembered in the pop culture imagination for the conical bras he designed for Madonna during her “Blonde Ambition” tour. That’s a shame because, as this collection proves, Gaultier is an expert tailor with a sense of Hermes’ history as a French saddle-maker.
Sure, some of the clothes bordered on costumey or fetishistic. In addition to provide wearable clothes, fashion should also take us on a journey. In Gaultier’s swan song for Hermes, I definitely felt the call and rush of a sophisticated, Argentine woman who owned a sprawling cattle ranch.
Dissecting the clothes there were plenty of wearable pieces, gorgeous suits, and sumptuous dresses. As Tim Blanks writing for style.com put it:
“Gaultier is a master tailor, and here he maximized his talent to create an austere but sensuous glamour. His singular twist was to build interest into the back of a garment, baring skin with jackets and tops that crisscrossed like wings. If they might be classified as a fashion bridge too far—along with the body harnesses, the jodhpur shorts, and those basques—there was temptation aplenty elsewhere. See the ultra-high-waisted pants, chic leather-fronted cardigans, gorgeous suede jackets, and leather skirts, not to mention some splendidly sleek accessories that were worthy additions to the classic Hermès carryalls.”
Gaultier will continue to design a signature line while Christophe Lemaire, formerly of Lacoste, will take the reins.
I love those pieces that you've shown.
ReplyDeleteStructure and tailoring, yet with personality and style.
Understated and sophisticated, but with the right amount of detail to make a statement.
And you know I loved what he did for Beth Ditto. Now THAT'S a man that knows how to design; not for those walking skeletons, but for people of any proportion.
Yay, Gaultier!