November 13, 2011–February 12, 2012
The first exhibition devoted to the designs of world-renowned French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier will make its U.S. debut at the Dallas Museum of Art in November 2011. Marking the first time that the DMA will present an exhibition dedicated to exploring the art of fashion, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk provides an unprecedented look at the designer dubbed fashion’s “enfant terrible” from the time of his first runway shows in the 1970s and who has become one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades. Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, the exhibition premiered in Montreal on June 15, 2011, and will be on view at the Dallas Museum of Art from November 13, 2011, through February 12, 2012, before traveling to its final stop in the U.S. at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, in March 2012. The exhibition will be on view at the Fundación Mapfre – Instituto de Cultura in Madrid, Spain, from September 26 through November 18, 2012, and will travel to Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in February 2013.
The exhibition—organized along six different thematic sections tracing the influences, from the streets of Paris to the world of science fiction, that have marked the couturier’s creative development, “The Odyssey of Jean Paul Gaultier,” “The Boudoir,” “Skin Deep,” “Punk Cancan,” “Urban Jungle,” and “Metropolis” —features approximately 130 ensembles from the designer’s couture collections, as well as from his prêt-à-porter line, along with their accessories. Created between 1976 and 2010, the majority of these pieces have never been exhibited. Sketches, stage costumes, and excerpts from films, runway shows, concerts, dance performances, and televised interviews will all provide a look at the couturier’s world and will explore how his avant-garde fashions challenged societal and aesthetic codes in unexpected, and often humorous, ways. Fashion photography will also be a major focus of attention, thanks to loans of, in many cases, never-before-seen prints from renowned contemporary photographers and artists.
The many legendary artistic collaborations that have characterized Gaultier’s global vision are examined within the realm of popular music, in France (Yvette Horner and Mylène Farmer) and on the international scene (Madonna, who has graciously lent two iconic corsets from her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, and a costume from her 2006 Confessions Tour, and Kylie Minogue); film (Pedro Almodóvar, Peter Greenaway, Luc Besson, Marc Caro, and Jean‐Pierre Jeunet); and contemporary dance (Angelin Preljocaj, Régine Chopinot, and Maurice Béjart).
Placed throughout the galleries, 30 animated, talking mannequins, including one of Gaultier, add an extra dimension to the lively atmosphere by surprising visitors with their lifelike presence and spontaneous commentary. The design and staging of this innovative audio-visual creation has been produced by Montreal-based Denis Marleau and Stéphanie Jasmin of UBU/Compagnie de création.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has published, in French and in English, a major monograph on the occasion of this exhibition. Featuring over 550 illustrations and photographs, the 424-page catalogue includes over 50 exclusive interviews with Gaultier’s colleagues, mentors, and muses, as well as the artists he has worked with—among them Pedro Almodóvar, Catherine Deneuve, Helen Mirren, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Madonna, Martin Margiela, Pierre Cardin, and Dita Von Teese—and features many previously unpublished illustrations thanks to the collaboration of renowned fashion photographers and the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier. The catalogue also features an essay written by Suzy Menkes, Fashion Editor at the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune; an interview with Valerie Steele, fashion historian and Director of New York’s The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), as well as a timeline of Gaultier’s career.
