PARIS, Oct 5, 2004/ FW/ --- It’s ethnic, it’s classic, it’s modern – all of these adjectives in one sentence to describe another brilliant collection from Jean Paul Gaultier who showed his Spring 2005 collection at his new headquarters at rue Saint-Martin in Paris.

Gaultier who brought us all over the world last summer with his seeming history of the boots for his Fall 2004 haute couture collection did not stray far this time as he mined the costumes of Spanish gypsies and morphed them into urban looks that are feminine, sexy and chic at the same time.

Sending his models smoking cigarettes and wearing a scarf to control their wild hair, the look was definitely sultry. And with flouncy lace skirts worn under snug fitting skirts and bra-sized vests, there is also a rock n’ roll feel that is reminiscent of Madonna.

Yet to sum it up that way is incomplete because he also played with colors and prints, making the collection literally alive in your eyes. Diagonal color blocks of on electric pleated sheer fabric are mixed with exotic prints that could easily come from a Chinese screen.

Basing the collection on gypsies who historically connote living freely and without the staid restrictions of the accepted standards is very fitting because in more ways than one, Jean Paul Gaultier freed our minds from the set boundaries of how a woman should wear a skirt, a vest, a cape or a trench coat.

With Gaultier matching a tailored jacket with a hipster skirt held by a wide leather belt of the same color, the standard “corporate look” was suddenly broken. All of a sudden, women are no longer bound by the customary rules of dressing.

Though this collection will probably not have the same effect as when women finally stopped wearing the chastity belt during the Crusades, Jean Paul Gaultier definitely blazed a new trail tonight in Paris.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier