PARIS, Jul 2, 2004/ FW/ --- Opening with a lone model wearing an olive grey suit with matching drawstring pants paired with a white shirt and short tie, carrying a piece of bread as a subtle reference to the designer’s current exhibit at the Cartier Foundation, Jean Paul Gaultier set the tone of his collection – a new casual look for men’s fashion for the summer.

On a clipped pace, the runway became a walk for two as models came out in pairs wearing stonewashed beige pants, shirts and jackets most of the times, with just splashes of color in the first half of the show.

Proposing a relaxed silhouette, Jean Paul Gaultier cut his pants generously, even using drawstrings for the formal suits and harem-inspired pants for daywear, while sticking to the standard hip hugging waists for jeans.

Reworking the 1970s craze of tie dying and stonewashing, the crowned king of French fashion dabbled in streetwear without looking like hip-hop. Instead, under his masterful hands, it became a convergence of traditional art and urban wear that is inimitably Jean Paul Gaultier’s.

It was in the beachwear collection that the designer broke new grounds. The usually functional wetsuits became fashion statements with dropped shoulders and black piping on the torso ending just below the shoulders.

Snorkeling and scuba diving has never looked this fashionable; a diver can go straight from spending a day underwater to the dinner table!

And for the groom who is thinking of a beach wedding, Jean Paul Gaultier proposed wearing a tuxedo on a scuba diving swimsuit complete with booties.

This reference to a wedding was explained on the last part of the show when two male models, dressed as ‘groom and groom’ walked down the runway that became a makeshift ‘wedding aisle.’

Making a political statement on French laws regarding same-sex marriage, Jean Paul Gaultier also hit a nerve in the U.S. wherein gay marriage is a hot political issue.

Though the designer might have not seen it this way, Jean Paul Gaultier might have sparked the seed in healing American-Franco relations that had deteriorated in the past two years.

Historically, the U.S. and France had been allies and friends, as exemplified by the Statue of Liberty, a famous New York landmark, which was a gift by the French to the Americans.

A lot of people from both countries had forgotten that tie which binds them together. With Jean Paul Gaultier’s putting his view about same sex marriage on the runway, it becomes a gentle reminder between the French and the Americans that even with today’s political climate they still have something in common.

It does not matter whether one is “for” or “against” same sex marriage, because in both countries, the general populace is also divided in the issue. What matters is that there is now a common ground between them, and that is usually the start of healing any rifts between two people.

Harmony comes from the most unexpected places, and in this case, why not the runway…

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier