Dubbed "enfant terrible" after his first runway show in 1976, Jean Paul Gaultier has never been afraid to rebel against the norms in his industry, whether it be in the skewed styling of his designs on the runway or even the models themselves who are often curvier than the typical q-tip runway ladies. Gaultier has cemented his reputation in the fashion industry as a risk-taking designer who's just as comfortable designing cone-shaped bustiers for Madonna as he designing casual denim overalls.
Gaultier's career and decades worth of designs are now the focus of an exhibition, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which opens on Friday at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Luckily, you don't have to go to Canada to see the exhibit because the collection will be traveling to the Dallas Museum of Art this November as one of two stops in the United States, and advanced tickets have just gone on sale on the museum's website. Nearly 120 designs from Gaultier's 35 year-long career will be on display at the DMA from November 13 to February 12, 2012.
The designs, many of which have never been shown, will be divided into themed groups including "Multi-Gender" and "Metropolis," and ensembles will be displayed on animated mannequins that will feature video projections of some famous faces including Melissa Auf der Maur (Canadian singer and former bassist for Hole) and Eve Salvail (a French-Canadian model). Some of the mannequins will even speak and sing, but hopefully it won't be like that awful Andrew McCarthy movie. Or the sequel. The collection also features Gaultier's sketches, videos of runway shows and photographs taken by Andy Warhol, Herb Ritts and Richard Avedon, among others.
After showing in Dallas, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk will travel to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco in March 2012 before making stops in Madrid and the Netherlands. Something tells us you'll want to buy your tickets early for this fashion event, so visit dallasmuseumofart.org for more information and to purchase tickets.
