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Haute Couture Fashion Week: Highlights From The Shows In Paris

Pauline Hoarau standing in front of a crowd: Alexis Mabille Couture Spring-Summer 2020.

A womb-inspired runway show, a set based on Coco Chanel's orphanage, the first showing from a Sub-Saharan African designer, and Jean Paul Gaultier's farewell to fashion -- there was no shortage of memorable moments at the Spring-Summer 2020 edition of Haute Couture Week, where top labels present elaborate custom garments to selected audiences in Paris.

As fashion's biggest names descended on the French capital for a packed week of shows, it emerged that some had -- somewhat unusually for haute couture -- put comfort front and center.

Schiaparelli, for instance, opted for slouchy daytime creations alongside extravagant eveningwear. Stand-out pieces included a pitch-black tailored, yet accommodating, silk-satin trouser suit embellished with surrealist motifs, from padlocks to winking evil eyes.

Similarly memorable was the Italian label's asymmetric royal blue double-puff ball dress with bejeweled charms, which were also glued to models' faces and bodies, and a seductive Oscar-worthy gown with a shocking pink gravity-defying silk skirt.

"Being an American, I am coming at couture from a different perspective," said Schiaparelli's creative director, Daniel Roseberry, after the show. "Celebrating that feels good. I wanted the real pieces to feel more real, and the fantasy pieces to feel so much more unreal."

For Dior's show, artist and feminist icon Judy Chicago created a monumental womb-like space at the Rodin Museum. The elaborate set featured 21 embroidered metallic banners posing questions including "What if women ruled the world?"

"We are in the body of the goddess, in a female space," Chicago said, explaining her design during last Monday's show. "As we are in the Rodin Museum, I was acutely aware of how masculine (sculptor Auguste Rodin's) work is, so I thought, fine, masculine there and feminine here! If the world was like this, it would be a lot better.

"It's about empowering women through clothes," she added.

Dior's models glided along the purple carpet in various golden gowns, which were paired with veils by master milliner Stephen Jones. Some appeared in long, glittering fringed dresses, while others floated down the runway in more delicate, translucent creations with flowing silk tulle capes.

The duo behind Ralph & Russo dedicated the label's show to their Australian homeland, asking attendees to donate to a fundraiser to help fight the country's bushfire crisis. Celerating their 10th year of couture, the creations combined sumptuous fabrics and glamorous proportions, from a black silk organza crystal mesh suit embellished with graduating metallic crystals, to a ravishing off-the-shoulder chartreuse taffeta ballgown.

Elsewhere on the schedule, Chanel's creative director Virginie Viard turned to the brand founder, Coco Chanel, for inspiration. Her showspace recreated the cloister garden -- complete with lavender, cabbages and vine tomatoes -- at the French Abbey orphanage where a 12-year-old Chanel grew up after her mother's death.

The accompanying collection was light and airy, featuring the brand's classic black-and-white checked suits and Gigi Hadid in a fitted button-down shirt-waister with white Peter Pan collar and cuffs. Then came a timeless all-black outfit: A round-neck Chantilly lace top with a bib and winged caped sleeve on top of a long georgette skirt.

Over at French designer Alexis Mabille's show, held at Sotheby's auction house, Dita Von Teese introduced his creations in a black sequined smoking jacket and pants. "This season, the craftsmanship expresses shades of white, a pallet free of color to better reveal the women's power," she said onstage before joining the audience.

Models walked dressed in mostly all-white ensembles, including a simple shirtdress worn with an overskirt knotted at the side and held in place by a crystallized belt. Some of them took champagne flute-shaped bags down the runway.

"I wanted to be free of color connections," Mabille explained backstage. "It's not summer, it's not winter -- it's super elegant, super feminine. It's a realistic collection, and easy to wear."

On Tuesday evening, Ronald van der Kemp once again demonstrated the possibilities of up-cycled haute couture. His collection was also filled with nostalgia, transporting his audience to Le Palace, a theater today but Paris' equivalent of Studio 54 in the 1980s.

His brand RVDK's sharp lines referenced the images of photographer Helmut Newton, who the Dutch couturier has credited as a major influence, while the core message seemed focused on reducing waste and overconsumption.

The outfits on display included a mock fur coat (or as the show notes described it, a "Boucherouite guilt-free fur trash coat") and another alluring jacket made from a profusion of hand-painted flowers and a gathered matt-black ball skirt adorned with rose cloqué that had been up-cycled from a previous season.

Elsewhere, Viktor & Rolf created voluminous shapes made from flower prints. Backstage, co-founder Rolf Snoeren said that these were the only new fabrics used for the avant-garde Dutch duo's collection. "All the rest -- all the patchwork -- is archive fabric swatches that manufacturers have sent to us over the years."

The pretty florals were offset with temporary body tattoos by make-up artist Peter Philips, and accessories by Brazilian brand Melissa, from a limited-edition line of vegan plastic flat shoes and bags.

Valentino's runway show was one of the most anticipated of the season. The label's breathtaking display didn't disappoint, with creative director Paolo Piccioli's mastery of color and craft demonstrated through a series of backless dresses.

British model Stella Tennant wore a diaphanous powder-rose organza blouse, tied with an extravagant fluttering bow, along with a long black fishtail skirt and red leather gloves. A timeless column dress, complete with duchess satin cuff, collar and train, was pure Valentino -- as was a long red high-neck dress worn by Australian model Agi Akur, accompanied by long graduated diamond earrings with red flat glossy feathers at the ends.

A native to Cameroon where he made his first dresses (including for his mother, who was Miss Cameroon in 1960), Imane Ayissi is the first Sub-Saharan African designer to show at Haute Couture Week. The 51-year-old created a sophisticated collection using organic cottons, also transforming tree bark into decorative flowers. The designer uses African materials and techniques in his collection, and works with cooperatives to ethically source organic materials.

Last but not least, "L'Enfant Terrible" of French fashion, Jean Paul Gaultier, marked his retirement after a 50-year career that has earned him international renown for his provocative designs and extravagant shows.

He sent out nearly 200 looks for his final couture catwalk, attracting fashion A-listers including Carla Bruni, Eva Herzigová, Christian Lacroix and Simon Le Bon, whose wife Yasmin starred on the runway.

The catwalk offered a number of surprise cameos, including Dita Von Teese in a shimmering pink belted minidress, and Karlie Kloss in a up-cycled plastic bodice with massive bubble-wrap skirt. French singer and television presenter Amanda Lear was carried in by two men wearing crystal T-shirts and heels, while Canadian model Coco Rocha showed off a high-kicking Irish jig.

Boy George closed proceedings with a performance of Culture Club's 1983 hit, "Church of the Poison Mind," which saw attendees jumped up to dance and clap along. Gaultier was held aloft in the middle of the stage, as if at a festival, and was clearly loving the moment.

"I love fashion," Gaultier said backstage. "And I will continue with a new approach, taking a backseat."

Chanel Couture Spring-Summer 2020.

Fashion, Entertainment World Pays Homage To Jean Paul Gaultier

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They turned out in droves, dressed to the nines. Models, performers, designers and fans paid tribute to Jean Paul Gaultier at the couturier’s 50th anniversary show in Paris on Wednesday night at the Théâtre du Châtelet, marking the end of his runway career:

Pierre Cardin: “I am very proud to have had a student of such quality who had a brilliantly successful career while having such character.”

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Christian Lacroix: “I felt great happiness and pleasure — I loved the handiwork, there was also couture and showmanship. We could see he’s in fantastic shape, and that he’s very happy about this step and about what will come next — I think.” Asked what he knew about the next steps, Lacroix replied: “There are certain scenarios we can imagine, but I think he’s taken the right path.”

Clare Waight Keller: “He is an icon in France, one of the most incredible designers known globally — I think not only through his work through Madonna, but just his extraordinary personality. He was the guy I grew up knowing when I was in school in fashion, so I am super excited to be here.”

Kenzo Takada: “He did so much for fashion, Paris and France — I feel very honored and so lucky to be here for his last fashion show.”

Gigi Hadid: “His show was my first in Paris when I was 17, and it was his last ready-to-wear collection. It was so exciting for me. I couldn’t believe that a designer like him wanted me on his stage. So it’s really special to be back for his last couture collection, as well. He’s inspired me my whole life — I mean, the same as everyone. Just his creativity and his joy, and everything that he outputs from himself is just amazing. But also I have a Roche Bobois couch at home that has a few cushions that are his fabric designs, so he’s always with me at home, too.”

Ellen von Unwerth: “I used to model for Jean Paul, when he started. One of his first shows he booked me. I remember what I was wearing: a black garbage bag with a belt and sponges to scrub pots with were earrings. That’s a really good memory.”

Rossy de Palma: “I am [too] moved to talk,” said de Palma backstage before the show, adding she’s known Gaultier for almost 50 years. “Like the end of the Eighties, the beginning of the Nineties. I don’t know but it’s a loooong, long, long time ago. A life of friendship.

“He saw me in ‘Law of Desire,’ the Almodóvar film, and called me quickly for the first show I did with him.”

Erin O’Connor: “I was hooked in about nearly a quarter of a century ago. [Jean Paul Gaultier] was described to me as ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and the person that told me that couldn’t be more wrong. He’s the most human person in the world. I think his power is his expression, but it’s also his humor and kindness. He really is, I think, someone that has provided real DNA and backbone for fashion.”

O’Connor reckons she walked about 100 of Gaultier’s shows. “There was one when I jumped into a paddling pool. He is the only designer that got me in swimwear, that’s for sure.

“We are all very emotional. We’ve literally been wobbling on stage, because we expect to go when we’re ready. We don’t expect him to make his departure. We were all calling each other before, going: ‘You’re going to go, you’re going to go, you’re going?’ Like of course. So we traveled from around the globe to be here today, all of us.”

Pascal Morand: “Jean Paul was an exceptional fashion designer who has deep knowledge of all types of couture techniques and was a precursor in subverting codes, like male/female ones, who brought in impertinence and humor, and who understood very, very early on the importance of diversity of inclusivity and is therefore an exceptional figure, and an icon of fashion.”

Ali Mahdavi: “I have great, great admiration for this house. He is probably one of the last to know and love the woman’s body and not distort it with bizarre forms….Monsieur Gaultier, he beautifies women — and this is not the end. It is the beginning of a new adventure.”

Andrés Velencoso: “I was one of the lucky ones to do two of his campaigns, prêt-à-porter and one of these iconic perfumes, the Fleur de Mâle — he’s such a great man and such a warm person and I’m super happy to be here.”

Eva Herzigová: “For me, Jean Paul is someone who is so much fun — he’s extremely fun, he’s intimate, he’s a lovely person, a gentleman. His creations will become more exclusive — he’s just going to a more exclusive universe — why not? He’ll continue! The show will go on!”

Isabel Marant: “I’m delighted for Jean Paul and very sad to know it’s the last runway show, but there you go — we will miss them. His was one of the first shows I saw when I was an adolescent, and dreamed about going — and managed to sneak in from the back. It’s pure joy, it’s eclectic. Jean Paul Gaultier represents a lot of things for me.”

Arielle Dombasle: “This is not an end at all, he’s going to tour around the world and show his things differently — we are happy. I wore Gaultier in this very setting here at Châtelet when I did my glamour show with Philippe Katerine with hoops and crinolines — so this is all very moving.”

Jourdan Dunn: “When I was 19 and eight months pregnant, I got the phone call that he wanted me to be in his show. I was a bit like ‘Wait, is he aware that I’m pregnant and there’s been a bit of a backlash?’ Then his team came back [with] ‘No, he loves that. He thinks it’s a beautiful moment. It should be celebrated, and he wants to create something especially for you. You have nothing to worry about.’

“I just remember I was super, super nervous, but he fully made me feel at ease and was like: ‘No, embrace this, enjoy this.’ That has been such a moment for me.

“Actually yesterday at my fitting, he said he wants to give me the outfit that he made for me. I was wearing this corset that was molded for my bum. I got very emotional. It was funny because I had told my son about it recently, and showed him the picture and he asked me have I got it. I am excited to show him [it] and have this with me.”

Coco Rocha: “I have continuously done his show, and he wonderfully gave me so many moments — the first, starting with my Irish dancing down the runway. And it led on and on and on.

“It’s funny how many I’ve done, yet the Irish dancing is the one that people always reminisce and talk about, probably daily to me, either on social media or on the street.

“But today’s a sad day, too. He is going to make it a fun night, so I am sure none of us are allowed to cry. When I was told — my husband actually sent me the message [with Jean Paul’s news] I just bawled in the car…driving home. We knew this was going to be a special show, but we didn’t know why.”

Laetitia Casta: “He was the first one to discover me. I was 15 years old and doing the casting for the show. It was my first show. After that, I started doing things in fashion, but it was really the beginning of everything.”

Karlie Kloss: “I feel so grateful for all the experiences I’ve been able to have on [Jean Paul Gaultier’s] runways, and I truly feel some of my fondest memories on the runway are in his shows, because they’re so much more than a runway show. It’s really an immersive experience, and as a model you get to play characters and take on these kinds of roles. He gives you the creative freedom and self-expression to dance down the runway if you like, to smile, to twirl — lets you do whatever you feel. For me it’s always such a privilege and such a pleasure. So this one is going to be one to remember.

“I remember when I first met him. I had just one tear sheet in my book; I was brand new. I had one editorial from Steven Meisel, Italian Vogue. [I walked] in and he immediately knew that editorial. He knew me, he was very excited. He heard I was a dancer and immediately embraced me and gave me this opportunity to really shine on his runway, and I was so young.

“His kindness really is unparalleled.”

Jade Parfitt: The first time Jean Paul Gaultier asked Jade Parfitt to be the bride in a couture show stood out in her mind. “The couture bride is a really big deal. When you’re a model in the show, you’re always a bit covetous of who’s the bride. He asked me if I’d be the bride and, of course, I said yes. Then he said: ‘But you will have a really long train and a really high heel.’ I was like, ‘That’s fine.’ And he said: ‘You will be carrying a baby.’

“‘A real baby?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Of course, I can 100 percent do it.’ I remember that show really clearly, because I had a couple of other looks, and I had been introduced to the baby — a sweet little baby boy — but it was a bit of a crazy atmosphere backstage and all I could hear whenever I was there was the baby crying. I was just like ‘Oh my god, I’m going to get done here, because people are going to think I’m like really mean, taking out a baby who’s crying. What am I going to do?’

“I’m in the lineup, in the bridal outfit, the baby’s crying, and we step out on the runway, the lights change — and he’s like an angel. Stopped crying, he was looking around, the happiest, most content baby. He really, really played ball for me. And do you know what? You know who just came up to me here? His mom. She said: ‘You’re the one that carried my baby.’ I asked: ‘How old is he?’ She said: ‘He’s 19.’ So I must have met Jean Paul 22 years ago.”

Chrystèle Saint Louis Augustin: “I use the word ‘influencer’ [for Jean Paul Gaultier] because he is someone who really puts forward what today is very à la mode — though perhaps not at the time [of his start] — all types of humans, cultures, who truly encouraged a vision of the other. He gave a place to each person… always highlighting diversity. Jean Paul pushed for an openness of mind. He was an influencer of that since the start.”

Odile Gilbert: “We always prep a lot of special pieces — things that don’t exist [otherwise]. He’s always [said]: ‘I want something like this, like that’ and I’m like: ‘It doesn’t exist. How are we going to do it?’

“I only have good memories. I’ve worked with Jean Paul for 24 years. The thing with him that I always enjoy is that he has a very fresh mind. He is like a kid — really like a kid.”

Erin Parsons: “What I love about him is he’s always fun. He has fun with it. He is 67 years old and he’s still like a little boy. When I meet him, he is so full of joy and so much energy. He just really lights up when it comes to anything creative.”

Launch Gallery: Fashion and Entertainment World Pays Homage to Jean Paul Gaultier

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Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Legacy

Paris, cowboys, Madonna, and sexual freedoms. Not much in the world can encompass such cultural smorgasbord. Yet that is precisely the 50 years long career trajectory of enfant terrible turned iconic freak – Jean-Paul Gaultier — who took his last bow on January 22nd, 2020 during Haute Couture Week in Paris.

French designer Jean Paul Gaultier took his final bow during Haute Couture Week in Paris.

Courtesy of JPG

The best thing art can do sometimes is highlight something authentic and extraordinary in the gray torrent of reality. Gaultier, without a doubt more an artist, then merely a successful clothes designer, has been laboring at that task all his life. He observed people and events around him, captured social undercurrent trends and built whole collections around zeitgeist subject, such as his tribute to the late singer Amy Winehouse. Multi-gender punks, Parisian cabaret dancers, exotic outcasts from all walks of life are equal parts of Gaultier’s enthusiastic oeuvre.

Thanks to the fact that Gaultier’s products always emphasize individuality, vanguard celebrities have been fond of him since 80’s. Madonna was infamously dressed by Gaultier in several of her tours and videos. Costumes for the legendary Angelin Preljocaj ballet “Blanche Neige” were also produced by the Gautier house. Film directors Pedro Almodovar and Luc Besson regularly collaborate with the designer.

Here are 5 ways Jean Paul Gaultier has impacted fashion world:

The blue and white striped sailor shirt in all its themes and variations. This is iconic Gaultier. From perfume bottles to endless copycats, JPG sailor shirt will remain as his most recognized design item.

Pierre et Gilles, Jean Paul Gaultier, 1990 Designed specially to illustrate the cover of the ... [+] autobiographical photonovel À Nous Deux la mode Painted photograph, framed by the artists 112 x 92 cm (framed) Private collection, Paris

Pierre et Gilles/Rainer Torrado

Gaultier’s fascination with lingerie and underpinnings culminating in his signature collaboration with Madonna for her Blonde Ambition tour. His risqué, provocative designs inspired by themes of bondage and body art. Fashion and sex, thanks to Gaultier, will forever remain fused together.

Body corset worn by Madonna, Blond Ambition World Tour, 1990

Emil Larsson

Only Gaultier managed to walk the fine line between the typical upscale French couture client and the street punks of London. He managed to feature this dichotomy in his designs by mixing high-brow and low-brow clothes across his ready-to-wear as well as haute couture shows. The designer had only one rule - no rules.

Dita Von Teese Flaunt, 2003 Dada collection Women’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1983

Perou

He was a flawless technical designer with a strong multicultural clash of influences including Hussars, Mongolians, Hassidic Jews, Frida Kahlo and China. Gaultier’s haute couture collections often detailed unusual materials and techniques. This is a lesson in cultural appreciation at its best!

The Raw and the Refined collection Men’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1994 30th anniversary ... [+] retrospective runway show, October 2006

Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

Gaultier resume goes way beyond fashion. He produced iconic costumes for iconic films, such as Almodovar’s Bad Education or Luc Besson’s Fifth Element. His stage costumes for pop icons such as Kylie Minogue, Mylene Farmer, and Tina Turner turned heads and graced numerous red carpets.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Costume sketch for Gael García Bernal’s character in Bad Education (La mala ... [+] educación), directed by Pedro Almodóvar, 2004

Jean Paul Gaultier

While Gaultier took his last bow, he leaves behind a legacy that fashion as a tool to embody and project freedom of choice is a timeless message that continues to resonate with new generations of fashion fans.

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