Jean-Paul Gaultier: For Real Men Only
By Timothy Hagy
(Photo by Gruber-FWD)
PARIS, Jan 28, 2003/ FW/ --- Jean-Paul Gaultier's magnificent show Monday afternoon has erased any doubt that the he has now come full circle in raising his men's line to the same level of refinement seen on the women's side.
This was the most masculine, and ironically, the lightest collection the famed designer has yet shown.
Razor blades were spotlighted on the ceiling walls and runway, the name Gaultier replacing Gillette. And if the ambience was not already manly enough, guests were served bottled beer.
Catherine DeNeuve, who was front row and center, declined that offer, preferring to snuggle in her floor length mink.
From the very first moments, when elegant gray suits with striped sleeves made an entrance, it was clear that the mood had changed from previous seasons. The finesse of the tapered cut, the molding pinstriped pants worn with knee high lace boots, and the pure sculpture of charcoal lurex suits, were countered by the bohemian splendor of a full length mink coat floating atop gray cargo pants.
Models, some affixed with false sideburns, came swaggering down a white runway, beer bottle in hand.
Superb leather jackets were glazed chocolate and lined with fur, aviator jackets came with a fluffy white fox hood, and a lusciously woven coffee sweater, the front affixed with an array of knots, was trimmed in white mink.
Gaultier made less use of the kilt-skirt this time round, whether worn with or without pants, though that signature look was not overlooked.
Bill Blass tried to do the same thing in the 70s by mixing kilts with tuxes and it failed, but Gaultier has the skill to pull it all together, and it works.
A soundtrack in the theme of an Irish ballad accompanied the show, which was frequently interrupted by bursts of applause.
The finale of razor-cut gold lined jackets, versions attached with tails and worn with leather or silvery metallic pants, led to the pièce de résistance, a long tailed evening jacket accessorized with top hat and cane.
Though the inspiration may have been "The Gangs of New York", the effect was almost as if a 19th century farmer gentleman had found his way into a saloon, where he could drink ale comfortably with the best of the boys.
As the applause roared, Jean-Paul Gaultier was running energetically down the runway, but then the hatted model insisted on offered him his arm.
The clothes were certainly for real men: those with a heart of velvet.
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