Jean Paul Gaultier (French, b. 1952). Dress, fall/winter 1995–96. Multicolored synthetic quilted knit with trompe l’oeil bikini. Anonymous Gift, 2006 (2006.557.1).
Jean Paul Gaultier’s 1995 collection “Femmes Amazone” was accessorized, according to Women’s Wear Daily, with “whips and sundry other Mad Max accessories.” His inspiration, ostensibly, was the mythic Amazon and the contemporary equestrian. This dress is a version of the body-conscious sheathes he showed in the runway presentation under sweeping coats. With an ombréed and graduated dot pattern, Gaultier creates the illusion of a shadowed trompe l’oeil body wearing a bikini. The essential modesty of the padded and quilted sweater dress is subverted by this overprinted body, which emerges like an X-ray, and by Gaultier’s exploitation of the stretch of the synthetic knit to fit the dress like a second skin. Gaultier makes one of his whimsical references to the pop culture of his childhood in rendering the “itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini” of Brian Hyland’s 1960 hit single.
I had a lot of fun with this collection. The starting point was morphing of the body and the undergarment, which both appear through the medium of a sweater dress. The end result is that you have the body, the undergarment, and a warm padded sweater dress all in one. More than trompe l’oeil, I would call this a real syncretic approach to a garment.
—Jean Paul Gaultier
February 25, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I love this dress. Gaultier is the master of creating illusion with fabric. His clothes allways have a subversive sexy to them.
February 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm
‘ The end result is that you have the body, the undergarment, and a warm padded sweater dress all in one. More than trompe l’oeil, I would call this a real syncretic approach to a garment.’
Indeed syncrisis: a figure of speech, in which opposites are compared and form a contrast. In this case, not just a contrast, but in a very whimsical way become one, the body, the undergarment and the dress.
In this case Gaultier makes reference to popular and visual culture. ‘Photo shop’ allows us to imagine and execute limitless possibilities, opening in our mind, the realm of what is ‘possible’.
What philosophy or music cannot do, this dress does: three realms not only coexist, but become one.
February 26, 2008 at 6:41 pm
‘Gaultier is the master of creating illusion with fabric. His clothes always have a subversive sexy to them.’
‘Sexy’ is a concept so vague.
What does it mean?
He creates illusion indeed and alludes to contemporary visual culture.
In advertising, we are bombarded with images created with photo shop, incomplete sentences, innuendo.
In the pages of the fashion magazines, the ads for designer oversized bags, for instance, promise that if you get one of those bags, you will find the love of your life. The women who wear these bags, often are in bed, with almost no clothes on, wearing very high heels,( the shoes on the bed are de rigueur!) All the ads are the same and we take it for granted, that this is the most natural thing, to lie in bed wearing a huge bag.
On the surface, Gaultier is creating illusion with fabric, true, but at a deeper level, perhaps, he is also alluding to our visual culture and what we take for granted.
February 26, 2008 at 9:27 pm
What if he’d created the illusion of a nude body instead of one in a bikini? What you see is not what you get, as in neither is there a fantastic sex life, or whatever, stuffed in that baguette or birkin?
February 27, 2008 at 1:20 am
‘What if he’d created the illusion of a nude body instead of one in a bikini?’
Good question! Then it would be Duchamp’s ‘Nude Descending a Staircase.’
February 27, 2008 at 9:42 am
You’re right! Only I always thought Duchamp’s pink fragments splintered across time always looked a little chilly, whereas Gaultier for all his alleged subversion actually offers practical warmth!
February 27, 2008 at 11:03 am
True, but Duchamp’s image is part of Gaultier’s visual culture.
February 28, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Gaultier! Say no more. He loves to tease the eye and I love him for that. Taunt me all you want. Gaultier, you rock! He does it over and over. Shocking and exceptional, he always shows he’s a true artist and without boundaries. Isn’t that what creation is all about. He has many outfits like this one that come to mind, how about when he did his tattoo collection, always a step ahead and always tricking the eye. We love him because he is unconventional.
February 29, 2008 at 10:15 am
I thought this dress was satirical and very humorous. The dark “sheer” over the “body” in bikini helps play into the illusion of the dress actually being sheer. Upon a somewhat closer observation, one can’t help but laugh at Gaultier’s statement against our culture’s obsession with being thin. The body on the dress almost looks like a blow-up doll!
March 2, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Un peu grotesque. I do not enjoy the dress
March 8, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I think it is a great collection of modern costumes!
There are is lots of pretty dresses!
March 8, 2008 at 12:13 pm
the boots are very very pretty!!!!!
i love the dresses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 15, 2008 at 12:47 pm
je n’aime pas la robe!
je la deteste ~!!!!!!!!!!
March 22, 2008 at 10:20 am
can u say EW?!
March 22, 2008 at 2:17 pm
i dont like this dress. it reminds me of the shirts with the bikinis on them
March 23, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I mean I like the idea of a sweater dress. BUT NOT THIS ONE AT ALL! It looks like stripper needed something to wear in the winter. I hate it. Period the end.
March 23, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Style gone mad. Just NIOT flattering, even to the best figure.
March 23, 2008 at 5:25 pm
This is so Discusting, Disturbing and just plain EWWWWWWWWW!
March 25, 2008 at 12:40 pm
seriously??
March 25, 2008 at 1:10 pm
i hate how you advertise choco chanel, if she were here her name would be gone before you even blinked>:(((((((((((((
March 26, 2008 at 11:49 am
‘His inspiration, ostensibly, was the mythic Amazon and the contemporary equestrian.’
Perhaps he was influenced by the performance work of the French artist Orlan.
A piece she did in 1976- 1977 comes to mind. The title ‘S’habiller de sa propre nudité’
( to dress with one’ own nudity) alludes to the concept of Gaultier’s garment. For the performance Orlan wears a dress that depicts a nude body, her own. To reinforce this association there is the title of Gaultier’s 1995 collection ‘Femmes Amazone’ ( Amazon Women). Another piece of Orlan depicts a one breasted Saint Theresa.
April 1, 2008 at 11:17 am
WHAT IS THIS!!! NASTY!