NEW YORK, Sep 10, 2006/ FW/ --- Very few designers can define Paris’ high fashion ultra-creative scene like Jean Paul Gaultier. With such unique style and tailoring for both men and women's apparel, he sets himself apart from all of his French contemporaries and beyond.

As one of the first events of fashion week, Gaultier opened a boutique within the historical Bergdorf Goodman. Goodman is known for their unique inventory that caters to the upper crust of high fashion clientele. So the connection of Gaultier and Goodman is fitting.

On the third floor of Bergdorf Goodman, customers will be able to experience the artistic and edgy designs of Jean Paul Gaultier. Offering a wonderful mix of couture wedding gowns along with his intricate constructed jackets and trousers for ladies, the salon was enhanced with naked trees surrounded by faceless mannequins.

A white shredded gown depicted the mood for the room stating a winter wonderland chic. Other displays included ready to wear chiffon shirts with bows and a light mint chiffon gown with an overcoat.

Gracing the occasion, the designer gave confidence and cheer; Jean Paul Gaultier lit up the room with his radiant personality. As Monsieur Gaultier entertained executives and clients alike, he did it with such grace and style all through the entire night.

With 30 years of incredible unprecedented craftsmanship, he is still able to give the women of 5th Avenue a taste of freshness like non-other.

As an added treat to New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple, Bergdorf Goodman dedicated its Fifth Avenue store windows featuring the highlights of the French couturier’s career, complete with quotes from the designer.

Beginning with the ’Jean Paul Gaultier 30 Years of Design,’ the store windows are a tribute to the reigning king of French fashion, whose early nickname was ‘enfant terrible’ when he burst into the scene in 1976.

That nickname arose from his penchant in challenging the then standard views of fashion then reworking them and infusing ideas of his own. Putting corsets and lingerie-inspired clothing on the runway, then putting men on skirts and choosing the most unlikely models, Jean Paul Gaultier’s groundbreaking ideas would soon become the standard and the template of edgy and fashion-forward designs during the decades that followed.

In the ‘Jean Paul Gaultier 30 Years of Design’ store window, Jean Paul Gaultier was quoted, ‘THE CORSET – My first trademark piece. At the beginning of the 20th century, women considered corsets anti-freedom, but when I put them on the runway in the early 1980s, it was to express the power of femininity. It was supposed to be hidden, but making it apparent made people rediscover it. I love the fact that a woman or man wearing one feels strong and powerful.’

The store window’s background actually recreated the second floor foyer display at Jean Paul Gaultier’s headquarters at rue Saint Martin in Paris.

‘The Ethnic Influence’ store window showed pieces from the French designer’s haute couture and ready-to-wear collections. In this window, Jean Paul Gaultier was quoted, ‘I love to get inspired by other cultures because it makes you understand more about yours. You can see the beauty in another point of view. What I love is to mix cultures together. It can be a message of understanding, peace, which is all we need.’

Dramatic in its simplicity, the ‘Gender Bending’ store window features a bigger than life photo of Jean Paul Gaultier shot by David Seidner. With faceless mannequins on top and the clothes on display coming from the designer’s ‘Gaultier² collection, the quote on the window explained everything.

‘GENDER BENDING – Almost anything can be worn by both men and women. The clothes themselves have no gender. What is considered feminine today was masculine before, and vice versa. All my career, I have tried to make men equal to women: a woman can be feminine in a pantsuit and a man very masculine in a skirt.’

Jean Paul Gaultier whose name is already a byword among the fashion set reached household name status here in the U.S. when he designed the costume for movie ‘The Fifth Element’ starring Bruce Willis.

With his free-standing boutique here in New York and the in-house boutique at Bergdorf Goodman, the East Coast seem to be monopolizing the enjoyment of Gaultier’s creativity.

But, the French designer did not forget the fact that he has fans all over the U.S. People in the U.S. west coast do not have to travel to New York anymore to get a piece of Gaultier. The designer has a licensed boutique at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas.

Gaultier2

Gaultier2

Jean Paul Gaultier 30 Years of Design

The Etnic Influence

The Trench Coat

Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2006

Gender Bending

Fall 2006 Accessories Collection

Stage, Film & The Red Carpet