Cultural Encounters: Jean Paul Gaultier @ de Young

Jean Paul Gaultier is a voyeur of multiplicity, curious about everything and especially fascinated by differences. He finds inspiration in diversity, embracing realms seldom seen in the hallowed halls of fashion–from street looks to the styles of many ethnic cultures. “I respect individualities and I like particularities. I mix and match, collect, twist and crossbred codes. Past, present, here, elsewhere, masculine, feminine, remarkable, humdrum–it all coexists,” says Jean Paul Gaultier at the exhibit at de Young Museum in San Francisco.

For Gaultier the skin and the body are inexhaustible sources of inspiration. His transparent knits become “second skins”; and with his prints of flayed flesh or tattooed bodies, he transforms each wearer into a trompe-l’oeil work of art. In his words: “I like the blemishes, scars, emotions of the skin, of the flesh, of movement, everything that is human.” This carnival fascination has led to designs both romantic and fetishistic–a duality that reflects Gaultier’s playful, provocative and sophisticated understanding of the gender issues that resonate still today. Through his fashion, he demonstrates that nothing should be overlooked and everything is possible.

"Designers are the catalysts of their time; their role is to translate the changes, the mutations, the evolution of society." – Jean Paul Gaultier.

Gaultier celebrates a woman capable of asserting her masculine side and her feminine.

http://youtu.be/DY2pL-_q9ZY