Slimane Back in Black As King of Paris Fashion Week
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Established 1961 22 T Sunday, September 30, 2018 L i f e s t y l e Fa s h i o n Fashion s bad boy Gaultier showcases’ life and work in freak revue was weaned on musicals ... totally transfixed by the school for drawing gowns in the classroom and goes on to plumes and the paste jewels. I told myself that one his stint at Cardin, his first collection and his inspirations “Iday I would stage a revue,” Jean-Paul Gaultier said ‘and muses, including Kylie’ Minogue, Madonna and Pedro of a childhood dream that has now taken shape at the Almodovar. Folies Bergeres, a landmark Parisian theatre. “The Fashion Boasting colors screaming Florida and enlivened by Freak Show”, which opens to the public next week, traces energetic disco beats, the revue also showcases the the journey of the enfant terrible of French couture from quirky collections of the bad boy of fashion over the his humble origins in a Paris suburb to international star- years such as his corset dresses and the Perfecto gown. dom. The 66-year-old began his career as an assistant Gaultier’s life is laid bare with scenes from a gay cruising with Pierre Cardin and a pathbreaking trail followed that club and a moving moment when his lover and business introduced man skirts, older men, fuller women and heavily partner Francis Menuge dies of AIDS. The show brings tattooed models to the runway and the iconic cone bra together about 15 actors and dancers playing personali- immortalized by pop diva Madonna. “I have always loved ties who are “almost naked, tottering on high heels, gen- freaks, strange people, troublemakers, aesthetics which erously proportioned and either wearing underpants or blend and unexpected encounters like when the boy from not”, Gaultier said. The designer, whose signature attire the streets consorts with the duchess,” Gaultier said. is a striped Breton jersey, has an important message for The spectacle showcases 200 of his creations and the audience at the end. “Fashion is superficial. Have Fun! begins with “Nana”, Gaultier’s childhood teddy bear for Be Free!” — AFP whom he made a conical bra when he was just five. It A picture shows the stage prior to the start of the preview of the Fashion freak show, created by French fashion designer shows a young Jean Paul being regularly punished in Jean-Paul Gaultier, at the Folies Bergeres theatre in Paris. — AFP photos Actors perform on stage during a preview of the Fashion freak show, created by French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, at the Folies Bergeres theatre in Paris. Slimane back in black as king of Paris fashion week uperstar designer Hedi Slimane returned to the design legacy into the dust, The Guardian complained, Paris catwalk late Friday after a two-year especially since “Philo was notable for not equating a absence with a slash and burn revamp of Celine woman’s power with her sexuality”. French fashion that declared that black is back. With his two designer for Celine biggestS fans, Lady Gaga and Karl Lagerfeld, sitting next Hedi Slimane Philo fans’ anger to each other in the front row, Slimane drew a pitch- While Philo’s fans also cried foul on social media, Wall acknowledges the black portrait of his hometown which he called “Paris Street Journal’s critic Christina Binkley said Slimane had audience at the end The Night”. He turned the Invalides-where Napoleon the Midas touch. “When Slimane launched his thing at of the Celine rests in his tomb-into a giant shadowy nightclub, sending Saint Laurent, people hated it,” she said. “He just launched Spring-Summer out 68 of his 72 models in looks hewn from a new deep his thing at Celine-no less stark a brand reset-and there 2019 Ready-to- midnight black he has been working on for the last nine will be broad applause aside from a few careful critics. Wear collection months. The “Sultan of skinny” stayed true to his very “The difference-they know the revenues are about to fashion show in personal and sometimes polarizing style, with skinny ties gush.” Yet there were subtle new twists to Slimane’s eter- Paris. — AFP and slimline tightly-tailored black suits and leather jack- nal motifs. The man who is credited with inventing both the ets for both men and women. skinny and oversized looks that have dominated fashion US singer and actress Lady By calling the collection “Celine 01”, the much-admired over the last decade, lengthened his men’s suits and refined Gaga arrives to attend the minimalist vibe of his British predecessor Phoebe Philo the mini-dresses he showed previously at Saint Laurent. Celine Spring-Summer 2019 was confined to history. With the Kavanaugh Supreme Flashes of white and silver cut through the dark with black Ready-to-Wear collection Court vote having just ended on Capitol Hill, Slimane and white striped shirts and coats, studs and sparingly- fashion show in Paris. picked an”uncomfortable moment” to grind a female deployed sequins..