Covered Girl

This weekend I finally went to the Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Exhibit, at the Dallas Museum of Art. It was fully packed when I arrived with two other friends a little after 12:00 pm. We waited at the end of a decently long line for maybe 15 minutes until being allowed to entire the Exhibit. Since this is the last week of the show I am assuming that the lines and crowds will be worst but that is natural. Now onto a little bit about Jean Paul Gaultier and this interesting and incredible event!

Jean Paul Gaultier, is a French haute couture fashion designer. Although he never received formal training, Pierre Cardin was impressed by his sketches and hired him as an assistant in 1970. He started his own collection in 1976 and since then has expanded to several active labels and perfumes. He is known as the, enfant terrible, of French fashion. His works are known to reference to bondage and sexuality, while some are regal, feminine, formal and playful.

The Exhibit: It is a compilation of 35 years of work from both runway, film, and stage. Around 130 pieces for both men and woman are on display, as well as sketches, and film and video clips. Six themes were presented: The Odyssey, The Boudoir, Skin Deep, Punk Cancan, Urban Jungle and Metropolis. Something very interesting that I did not expect at a fashion & art exhibit was the amount of technology incorporated into the rooms. Many of the mannequins could talk, sing, blink and seemingly "look" at you while you admire their ensembles. The faces of the mannequins were projected onto the sculpted masks based off of the true models. Also, naturally there was a collection of the infamous cone-bras made for Madonna.

Something that I enjoyed about the exhibit was the raw uniqueness. Yes, some of it was strange but to me his art stood out due to the blatent commitment and work put in to making them. Some pieces had the time written out for constructing time and showed ranges from hundreds of hours to over a thousand. Entire unique dresses were made out of recycled material, satin ribbon, camera film and much more. Anything from a distance that appeared to be animal fur or leopard print was actually completely made out of sequins. I can not emphasize the intricate amounts of detail and artistic expression represented in every single piece. Another thing that truelly intrigued me was the wearability of some of the pieces. Some had head pieces that I could totally see inspiration for hijabis. There even was a black trench coat/ aabaya type thing that I absolutly fell in love with yet I could not find a picture of it online.

I did not completely agree with the complete sexualization of some pieces yet I could see what the idea behind it was. However, that topic is for another day :P Instead I just admired the creativity, and beauty. I admired the Swashbucker Tortoise shell ensemble, the parisian elegance collection, and Princes collection so keep an eye out for those if you take a trip to the exhibit! I highly recommend it! You will leave feeling inspired and fascinated! Just remember to look for the little things like when playing I Spy, you wouldn't imagine how much thought was put in to things. Leave me a response with your personal experience!

*Pictures from Google*

My Pictures:

- Until next time :) Dallah Abd