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FRENCH ICONS NUMBER THREE:

FRENCH FASHION PASSION (1090 words)

Love him, or loathe him, ever since Madonna wore that cone-shaped bra he designed for her Blonde Ambition Tour - you know: the one that made her bosoms stick out like a pair of angry unicorns - the marine-striped, tartan-kilted French fashion designer, Jean Paul Gauthier, has become an overseas symbol of a certain type of smouldering sexuality, mixed with a subtle ' Je ne sais quoi 'of eccentricity which spells F-R-E-N-C-H.
“I’m a real bitch” Jean Paul Gauthier is fond of saying and there’s no doubt about it - whether he’s out clubbing with long-time muse, Madonna, or hosting the EMAs or making costumes for box-office busting films starring butch heroes like Bruce Willis - the man who camps it up so much he’s been dubbed ‘the Drama Queen of the fashion world’ uses a canny mix of shock tactics, sex and sound business sense, to get his own way. One of those rare Fashion designers to have a completely separate- and equally high-profile- career as a television personality and a fashion mentor ,as best-friend Madonna- prone to using similar tactics herself-comments “Jean Paul turns every minute into a fashion event “ and -as some know to their cost- France’s top designer makes sure that-even if it means treading on other fashionable toes - he’s never far from the limelight.
Born in 1952 in Arcueil , the man who was to send a shock wave through French fashion grew up in the banlieue, and whilst all the other kids on the block were playing hopscotch, he sat indoors and sketched fantasy collections. Fond of saying that it was his grandmother –a hairdresser-who taught him all about style, Gaulthier was already showing signs of that precocious talent and stubborn determination which were to take him to the top of the- thorny!- Haute Couture tree.
By the age of 18 Gaulthier was getting too big for French suburbia, and he moved to Paris where he was soon working for the nec plus ultra of the French rag trade- designers with glittering names like Michel Goma at Patou, Angelo Tarlazzi, and the world reknowned Pierre Cardin -of whom he was later to say, “he taught me everything I know”-and it was here, amongst the crème de la crème of French style, that the young Jean-paul, ‘ learnt the basics” ,and then turned them upside down!
Only twenty four when he released his debut collection in Paris, if he’d expected to make a splash he was initially disappointed- the collection hardly raised a murmur in the tight-knit circles of French mode. Nothing daunted Gaulthier released his second collection in 1977 ,and this time his unique style caused a stir
Hedonism, Religion, street-life, androgyny- Gaulthier’s inspirations read like the first page of a popular newspaper ,or the blurb off the back of a trashy novel ,and perhaps that was his secret- realizing the overlap of fashion, and the media in modern life “I just turned news into clothes “ he commented, and soon it was his clothes that were making the news. When Gaulthier’s muscled men dressed in calf-length skirts hit the catwalk, they made national, and international headlines ,and sparked off a tongue-in-cheek debate in the French press as to whether men should shave their legs or not. With equally sound business sense the designer saw that to get known, and stay known he had to have a brand image of himself- something as unforgettable as his collection- and that’s how the ubiquitous kilt-and-marine-striped Gaulthier image was born.
Yet if his collections were often provocative ,already Gaulthier was moving mainstream, launching his Junior Gaulthier line in 1988 ,and then Gaulthier Jeans in 1992. In 1993 the fashion maverick even launched his own line in perfumes- ‘JPG’-a scent that was supposedly reminiscent of his stylish grandmother, even though it was sold in very un-grandmother-like’ ,torso-shaped bottles. But as is often the case with those who choose to swim against the current , secretly Gaulthier yearned to succeed in the eyes of the French fashion ‘establishment’, and when Gianfranco Ferré left his seat at Dior in 1996 Gaulthier was front-runner for the post. Widely touted to get fashion’s most coveted hot-seat ,when Dior chose Galliano instead, Gaulthier wasn’t the only one who was knocked for six. Swearing he’d get the last word , the following Spring he released his own Haute couture collection, and producing a surprisingly sober collection- in tones of red,and beige,and black -for a man who’d set the fashion world ablaze .
If his fashion image seemed to be sobering up, however, in the cinema Gaulthier still gave free-rein to his vivid creative talent, churning out some of this decade’s most memorable garments for films like Peter Greenaways "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" and Luc Besson’s "The Fifth Element" (who could forget Leloo’s dress made entirely out of white straps ?) Not every one appreciated the designer’s contribution to the septième art, however, and one film critic commented::“The Fifth Element's vision of the future 300 years from now is rather busy and colorful-not really a cyber-punk nightmare” adding in a bitchy aside “ although any future in which everyone wears grotesque costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier is certainly some kind of nightmare “ (!)
Always controversial , Gaulthier ‘rags’ have been worn by the rich and famous the world-over, and it is rumoured that even Catherine Deneuve has been seen in frocks signed JPG -and just like Deneuve, Gaulthier has become one of France’s number-one Ambassadors overseas.
These days- even if his most recent muse is the sulphurous artist Frieda Kahlo, who was married to Mexican muralist Diego Riviera and once had an affair with Trotsky- the Designer has toned down his image considerably- Jean-paul Gaulthier is no longer the bad boy of French fashion.
In fact a recent survey carried out by a popular French magazine discovered that a large percentage of eighteen to thirty year olds identified with the marine-striped, tartan-kilted French fashion designer,
“Our Jean Paul “ said one twenty-year old, summing up what many other’s felt “ has become a symbol both here, and overseas –he represents how foreigners like to see the French , and how we like to see ourselves- he represents a certain smouldering sexuality,and a subtle ' Je ne sais quoi 'of creative eccentricity which truly spells F-R-E-N-C-H.”
SIDEBAR
For up-to-the-minute information on Jean-paul Gaulthier , and to see his latest designs , visit his sumptuous website at www.jpgaulthier.fr

Next month : “Climbing The Old Iron Lady “ :A famous French icon that nearly wasn’t.