The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier- Exhibit at the de Young Museum -3/23/12

Thoai (Hoa's nephew) is currently in San Francisco working on Jean Paul Gaultier's exhibit at the deYoung Museum.  He mentioned casually that he will be sending us an invitation for the show.  I did not think much about it and I though we are just going to see a regular exhibit until...

I am opening the invitation I just received in the mail... WHAT!!!! is this for real, I am rubbing my eyes, I looked again at the invitation... Can't be real... I probably did not read it correctly!  I am trying to blink my eyes a couple times and it is right there in bold letter, black on white... We GOT a invitation to be part of a private tour with the man himself!

Yes, a private tour with Jean Paul Gaultier!!  A whole hour where Jean Paul will personally show us his collection and explain his ideas, and his inspirations behind each of his design.  Talking about SCORING BIG TIME, thanks to Thoai.

 Jean Paul Gaultier has been dubbed by the press as fashion’s enfant terrible (Fashion bad boy). Jean Paul Gaultier launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997. Emerging as a designer in the 1970s, he developed his own dress codes that reflected the changing world around him and his designs are very avant garde. In America  Jean Paul Gaultier is perhaps most famous for the iconic costumes (Cone Bras)created in collaboration with Madonna for her 1990 Blond Ambition tour.  His haute couture clothes are beautiful, superbly crafted with the finest dressmaking and detailing skills.  This Exhibition include 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the mid-1970s and 2010, along with numerous sketches, archival documents, fashion photographs, and video clips that spotlight Gaultier’s collaborations with filmmakers, choreographers, and musicians, most notably Madonna.  For this exhibition, Gaultier partnered with the Montreal-based theater company Ubu Compagnie de Création in the design of 30 animated mannequins who talk and sing in playful and poetic way. (You will see all of that later).

Here is the invitation that came in the mail!

Tonight there are 2 sessions for the grand opening:

From 7:00PM to 8:00PM is the private tour with Jean Paul Gaultier - there are less than 50 people. 

and the then second session open to the public is from 8:00Pm to the wee hours.

Here we are inside the de Young Museum.  The exhibition is on the lower floor so we have to take the stairs to join the group.

This is what you see as soon as you going down the stairs.

They set up a bar for the the private tour on the left.

Huge poster of the wall posting the lead sponsor of the show (Nordstrom) and a various supporting sponsor and couture circle.

This is the area where we are meeting Jean Paul Gaultier.  Open bar and appetizers are served.

We arrive exactly at 7:00Pm and there most of the people are already there. 

Cocktail attire was requested and you can see people are dressing up!

All of us are heading into the exhibit hall.

I am holding my gin and tonic Hoa's Martini so Hoa can take a picture.

Unfortunately, we are not allow to bring the drinks inside the exhibition so sadly after this picture I had to part with both drinks.

The Exhibition

As soon as you step in the exhibit hall, you will be transported to another world... the world of Jean Paul Gaultier.  There is an instant atmosphere of excitement, sensuality, intimacy and eye candy effect. The usually handsome and sterile  galleries have been transformed into a dark and edgy multi-tech arcade for this exhibition.

In the back ground are animated mannequins.  The mannequins looked so real!  While their limbs are motionless, their faces have movement such as squinting, they smile, they speak, they sing, they blink their eyes.   It's a bit freaky at first because it is so surreal , and then you can't help but watch over and over. I have never seen talking mannequins like this before (see Video below),

Make sure to Click on link to see the mannequin in action.  It is pretty impressive.

Immaculata gown, Virgins collection, haute couture spring/summer 2007.

I think the model in the middle wearing lace and the face is also covered in lace was worn by Kylie Minogue in one of her music video.

On the left is a mermaid dress called "La Mariée" wedding gown from the Mermaid spring 2008 collection.

 Jean Paul displayed the dress by adding the crutches so that when the mermaid is on land she can walk...(mermaid are not supposed to have feet).

Beautiful picture of the same mermaid dress  "La Mariée" as it was supposed to look like on a mermaid.

 The Virgin (Kylie Minogue) with the Serpents, 2008 by Pierre et Gilles,
Virgins (or Madonnas) collection, “Auréole” gown. Haute couture spring/summer 2007. Sky blue pleated tulle gown with “rays of light” gold lamé appliqués, long panels floating from the shoulders in the back. Painted photograph, framed by the artists.

Beautiful artwork and another mermaid mannequin on display.

While the crowd (including me) we are following Jean Paul Gaultier in the exhibit and listen to him explaining each of his design, Hoa decided he should go out and have a few drinks and mingle with the servers.

Of course he was the only at bar and he got a chance to sample all the appetizers.  The server definitely gave him all the attention, because he was the only one at the bar area (all of us were in the exhibit hall.

Next.. The exhibition