The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

       I was sick at Friday, so I went to Brooklyn Museum for Jean Paul Gaultier's show at Sunday, which was the last day of the exhibition. Maybe because it's the last day, I had to wait for more than 40minutes to get into the show, but I think it really worth it. From my perspective, one of the key words of Jean Paul Gaultier's show is "playful", which really matches his characteristic that shows in the video Masters of Style. He is having fun with styles and sexual identities and bringing a very positive attitude to the audience. At the first part of the exhibition, actually I was a little bit scared by the mannequin. While I took the first photo, the eyes of the mannequin was closed, and then when I got closer to take another photo, I found it eyes opened. And I believe I was not the only person in the exhibition hall that was scared by the mannequin. I heard people around me discussed whether the mannequins are real models or not. I think that has a lot of connection to Jean Paul Gaultier's playful characteristic. After I discovered that the facial expression was done by the projector, I definitely got the sense of his humor.

      The show was organized by different topics and with different background. As the audience moved from one room to the other, they saw different topics and different decorations of the room in order to fit the topics. For me I think the decorations of the "Punk Cancan" part was very interesting. At this room, Jean Paul Gaultier shows the designs that has the significant punk style. And all the walls in the room was covered by the graffiti that said Jean Paul Gaultier. And there was a "runway" at the center of the room that moving all the mannequins with conveyor so the audience could see the designs at all the angles of the designs including the back. The movement not only shows the details of the designs but also made the exhibition like a real fashion show. One of the designs on the "runway" really impressed me. The surface of the dress made the dress looked like a wedding dress that has a white color which looked very innocent. And Gaultier used the hand of the mannequin to pull up the front of the dress and show a totally different feeling by the inside of the dress. The inside of the dress has vivid color and a punk style. I think the movement of the runway helped me to observe the dress and notice the details of the design.