JEAN PAUL GAULTIER A DESIGNER WHO BREAKS AWAY FROM THE CONVENTIONAL

By: Maritza Villarroel
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Although he is considered by some of his co-workers a modern artist for having revealed himself towards the world of fashion since its beginning, Jean Paul Gaultier is truthfully a post-modern designer since, in his continued search to break away from the conventional, he uses the ephemeral and ambiguous and achieves avant-garde and amazing designs.

The biggest characteristics of this French designer who continues to amaze with his breaking away of the conventional and giving his creations an avant-garde style with a singular beauty, is that he has always been inspired on popular cultures, which he characterizes in each one of his collections based on different ethic groups of the world, to which he contributes specific elements, traditions and clothes.

The important part of his productions is to keep the value on what he expresses; using his knowledge of fashion and the traditional dressmaking, achieving a break-away and transforming it into something new, extravagant, beautiful and attractive.

Jean Paul Gaultier has known how to play with the ephemeral of fashion in this changing world and he has expressed in each of his creations the public’s taste, constantly searching for something new and different through his creations.

Jean Paul Gaultier’s designs are characterized by the use of fabrics that are not too conventional, like plastic and metal mixed with fine fabrics.  He is a designer who searches to stand out within a consuming society and he uses these fabrics that are not contemplated within the fashion world as a special and marked characteristic within the structure, that works as a design in each one of his creations.

Jean Paul Gaultier plays in his creative world of design by mixing the feminine with the masculine, the light and the heavy; in a continuous opposition of contrasts and textures that allows space for the free interpretation of his spectators, injecting into his work a very genuine style that breaks away from all outlines.

It is common to observe how his runways are a sight that contradicts the normal in fashion shows.  He uses big size models, with tattoos, dwarfs, models with piercings and older aged models, aiming towards a rebellion in this superficial world of fashion, and because of this he has been both criticized and applauded.

His transgressing vision has allowed him to reach the film world and his participation in movies has been very important since the wardrobe was the main feature in each one of them thanks to his unlimited imagination that has allowed him to extend himself to the strangest films.

His talent can be seen in the movies The Fifth Element of Luc Besson, in 1997, where he designed 954 costumes for that filming; Kika of Pedro Almodovar, 1993; The Cook, The Thief and His Lover of Peter Greenaway, 1995; The City of the Lost Children of Jean Pierre Jeunet, 1995; among others.