Inside fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier’s new Australian show

DESIGNER Jean Paul Gaultier has taken his best, and most outrageous, work from the catwalk and turned it into an international art sensation.

And his “adventure of a show” is heading to the National Gallery of Victoria from October to February in yet another fashion/tourism coup for Melbourne.
Madonna wears a Jean Paul Gaultier outfit during her Blonde Ambition tour. Picture: austr

Madonna wears a Jean Paul Gaultier outfit during her Blonde Ambition tour. Picture: australscope Source: Supplied

I stopped at the Barbican in London to get a sneak peek of the exhibition before it is packed and shipped to Melbourne, where NGV curator of Fashion and Textiles Paola di Trocchio will help bring it to life – with a few Australian twists.

The London exhibition is more theme park than traditional art show, with talking mannequins, a moving catwalk, celebrity photographs and videos.

Whatever else he does in life, Gaultier, who often fuses beautiful couture-like design with elements of high camp, will always be known as the man who helped shape pop siren Madonna’s bosom – and career.

In 1990, Gaultier and Madonna gave the world the conical bra as part of her Blonde Ambition tour. The reaction to this raunchy outfit propelled both designer and model into the public spotlight, with critics labelling both as provocative, entertaining and cutting edge.

From that moment, Gaultier became so much more to the world of fashion than just a designer.

The London show finishes with a room dedicated to his muses – people such as Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss.

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

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. Picture: Getty Source: Supplied

I caught up with di Trocchio, who travelled to London for the opening of the Barbican show, over lunch at the NGV’s beautiful restaurant Persimmon.
Kylie Minogue is among Jean Paul Gaultier’s muses. Picture: Getty

Kylie Minogue is among Jean Paul Gaultier’s muses. Picture: Getty Source: Supplied

What can we expect from the exhibition?

Paola: The exhibition is going to be sensational.

It will include about 140 mannequins and 140 outfits. A lot of those will be haute couture collections – so, collections no one in Australia has ever seen before. And they are magnificent pieces.

You have seen it in London, was there one thing that blew your mind?

Paola: The thing that blew my mind were the animated mannequins. I’d heard about them before I went but, to be honest, I really didn’t know how they were going to work, but they are fantastic. Walking into an exhibition and having mannequins speak to you is really fantastic.

So will they have Australian accents here?

Paola: I don’t know. Maybe not. They are actually based on people that Jean Paul Gaultier has worked with. One of the mannequins is actually Jean Paul Gaultier himself. So it is him speaking. Another is Kylie (Minogue) and her accent is slightly Australian, but very international and it will be included here.
Melbourne’s Andreja Pejic (formerly Andrej) is one of the models who will appear in the J

Melbourne’s Andreja Pejic (formerly Andrej) is one of the models who will appear in the Jean Paul Gautier exhibition. Source: Supplied

Kylie is one of the Australian muses, who else is there?

Paola: Jean Paul Gaultier designed outfits for one of Kylie’s tours, so we will have some of her concert outfits. Nicole Kidman was his first haute couture customer, so we will have her dress here. Cate Blanchett has also worn clothes by Jean Paul Gaultier – she wore one of his dresses to the Golden Globes. Melbournian Andreja Pejic, who has had an international career modelling both male and female clothes, will be part of the exhibition, as will international model Jemma Ward, originally from Perth.

Elle Macpherson with Jean Paul Gaultier and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at Paris Fashion Week in

Image Long Formal Dresses

Will you be trying to get many of those muses here?

Paola: Absolutely. They are all welcome to come but they are busy people, so it will depend on their schedules.
Jean Paul Gaultier makes final preparations to items of couture on a revolving runway as

Jean Paul Gaultier makes final preparations to items of couture on a revolving runway as part of his show at London’s Barbican Art Gallery. The exhibition is on its way to Melbourne. Picture: Getty Source: Supplied

Is Jean Paul Gaultier coming?

Paola: He’ll be here actually installing the show in the days leading up to it, and then he’ll be here for the opening and then a few events after that as well.

Melbourne is a great fashion city, so is that why something like this show works better here than anywhere else in Australia?

Paola: Well, I think it is particularly well aligned to Melbourne because we have such an interest in fashion here and so an interest in art. So I guess in Melbourne, what we like to call the cultural capital of Australia, those two realms of fashion and art align well with a Melbourne audience.

Jean Paul Gaultier to most people is synonymous with the Madonna bras – the conical bras – are they coming as part of the exhibition?

Paola: Yes, we will have Madonna’s cone bra from her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, which really put both Jean Paul Gaultier and Madonna at the forefront of most people’s minds. We will have pieces from his entire career. We will have the first dress he designed in 1976, right up to the most recent haute couture collection.
Elle Macpherson with Jean Paul Gaultier and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at Paris Fashion Week in

Melbourne’s Andreja Pejic (formerly Andrej) is one of the models who will appear in the J