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A few years ago, the Victoria and Albert Museum hosted a magnificent exhibition dedicated to Christian Dior, the high priest of haute couture. All the techniques, the artistry, were respectful, even in John Galliano’s short time as chief designer he could not break the strength of the steel-based work in a tradition that was as pedestrian as a Parisian in the Jardin des Tuileries. .
This show is not like that. It comes from another vision of how life should be, should be, should be lived. Her Paris is energetic, transgressive, sexual—it’s more so down Rue Saint-Denis to Pissoir on the way to dive bars and clubs. And why not?
We open on Jean-Paul Teddy Bear, the store of dreams, the first user of the famous conch bra. We’ll see (b (Justin Nardella and Renaud Rubiano’s amazing video work) A schoolboy who knows his skills can pull his way out of any problem – and the boy, and then the man, can accept it when he chooses.
Soon he’s working with Pierre Cardin – just like Pablo Picasso who develops every traditional skill in painting to break into something new, Jean-Paul learns what it takes to reinvent fashion. In the spectacularly revealed scene, the first solo show (in 1976) is recreated, the chaos is visible to us in the background, the new generation’s excitement flexing its creative muscles in the air (as it was then in London, it also flows on the edge of punk).
Soon, there’s Madonna and superstardom, but AIDS, death and heartbreak, and the recognition that entertainment can fund medical research. There’s a flurry of fashion movers (Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld rocking it with love) but Jean Paul comes out on top. There’s androgyny, cross-dressing and more TV with his longtime friend (seen in the video) Antoine de Caunes. And there are appeals to embrace fears, of not looking ‘right’, not thinking ‘right’, not acting ‘right’ – and there is a very strong condemnation of cosmetic surgery. As Madonna pleads, her bra aimed at the camera, ‘express yourself’ – equally important in both words.
With French A-list guest stars appearing on the screens (Rossy de Palma and Catherine Deneuve, among others) and a set by Nile Rodgers (the French can do a lot of things, but pop music isn’t one of them). It’s a scene worthy of Follies Burger (of course, the sensational posters pay due respect to that Parisian location). The energy wanes as the dancers and lead singer Maude Amour retire for several costume changes and director Tony Marshalls takes a few drinks.
The room is perhaps a little too cavernous to allow for the intimacy and relationships the scene requires, but that’s a minor quibble. We do not often find Vegas-style extraganzas in London, still less one with its roots in European cabaret and French sensitivity, but this show makes a few more good cases. Not that you’ll find another Jean Paul Gaultier.
The Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show is at Camden Roundhouse until August 28.
Photo credit: Mark Sr
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