As a name for an exhibition, “From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” speaks volumes and can only be attributed to one designer – the legendary Jean Paul Gaultier. Running from today (October 25) until February 23, 2014 at The Brooklyn Museum – the groundbreaking French couturier showcases playful, poetic, and transformative garments inspired by the beauty and diversity of global cultures.
It’s a multi-media exhibition tracing the influences on Gaultier’s development from the streets of Paris to the cinema since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s.
It features approximately 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter ensembles – and in his words it is “so big, so huge, so fabulous and so American”. The mannequins have interactive faces created by high-definition audiovisual projections as well as accessories, sketches, stage costumes, excerpts from films, documentation of runway shows, concerts, dance performances, fashion photography and contemporary art. The exhibition is curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot of the MMFA. Image of Jean Paul Gaultier in his “Barbès” women’s ready-to-wear fall-winter collection of 1984–85 by Paolo Roversi. Rather genius promo video below by Stéphane Sednaoui featuring the brilliant Karlie Kloss.
