In yesterday's post we looked at the dichotomy between the real and the virtual world in Margiela Artisanal S/S 18 designs. Yet that wasn't the only collection showcased during Paris Haute Couture Week that had an optical illusion theme.
Moving from his mentor, 95-year-old Pierre Cardin (who was sitting in the front row), Jean-Paul Gaultier reworked the theme through his own archive, mixing Op Art (a tricky reference as it has been done and redone ad nauseaum from the '60s on by Germana Marucelli, Roberto Capucci, Pucci, Moschino, Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, Thom Browne, Marc Jacobs and, more recently, Mary Katrantzou, just to mention a few designers and fashion labels) M.C. Escher and tailored moods.
The latter prevailed in some of the first designs on the runway and in the central section of the show. Trademark Gaultier silhouettes from the '80s were reinvented with inserts of fabric stripes twisted to create sensual openings with a futuristic (or architectural?) decorative intent; double-breasted square shouldered jackets sprouted long fringes, while a classic trench coat was cut on the bias and matched with tulle thigh-high boots and jackets were wrapped around the body to provide an alternative silhouette.
Colours – bold fuchsia, bright yellow and grass green – appeared only in this section of the show, while the first and the last part were characterised by two colours - black and white.
The opening look, a graphic striped tunic matched with black and white stockings was donned by a model with a hairstyle reminiscent of Peggy Moffitt in the iconic '60s images in which she posed in Rudi Gernreich's designs.
Yet Gaultier's main idea was homaging Cardin (as a young man, Gaultier worked for him as a studio assistant) and to strengthen this connection he also gave '60s evoking names to his designs, including ("Twiggy Pop", "Yellow Submarine" and) "Cardinella".
Some of the final designs focused more on surreal geometries and were inspired by M.C. Escher's Sphere Spirals.
This drawing, created in 1958 (so exactly 60 years ago), represents a complex infinite object, a sphere made of four spirals twisting around the spherical surface. The spirals are small at the poles and broad at the equator and their dimensions allow us to peer inside the sphere.
Gaultier first broke the sphere and engulfed a couple of models in a dress and a skirt made with spirals swirling around their bodies.
Then he printed Escher's sphere and tried to recreate its three-dimensionality using black plastic strips. The jewellery matching these designs also evoked Escher with plenty of spirals used as pendants and bangles.
Throughout his career Cardin was intrigued by the circle, a shape symbolising the moon and therefore representing his fascination with outer space. Gaultier used plenty of circles and spheres not only in the collection, but also in the runway set.
At the same time, rather than quoting literally Cardin (clearly evoked in a white mini dress with a matching cape and classic '60s jewellery...), he went his own way, reinventing some of his pieces (remember his Op Art cyber print from 1995?) and calling to mind artists à la Bridget Riley.
Too often, though, Gaultier ended up going down memory lane and conjuring up his own glorious past and his personal passion for theatrical designs. The show closed with Coco Rocha and her two-year-old daughter Ioni Conran in a matching dress. They were a hint maybe at the fact that the show was more about Gaultier's playful optimism than about Cardin, and that behind the complex geometries of Escher there was a healthy dose of space fun à la The Jetsons to be interpreted as an antidote to the pessimism reigning supreme in the world.
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