Gaultier / from the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Press Release

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER / FROM THE SIDEWALK TO THE CATWALK

18.9.2015 – 14.2.2016

Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Theatinerstrasse 8 | 80333 Munich T + 49 (0)89 / 22 44 12 | [email protected] www.kunsthalle-muc.de The Kunsthalle celebrates its first fashion presentation, its 30th anniversary and its 100th exhibition with Jean Paul Gaultier.

This comprehensive show pays homage to Gaultier’s diverse and fascinating oeuvre. For the past 40 years, the French couturier, dubbed the enfant terrible of the international fashion, has been one of the most influential designers of contemporary fashion. More than any other, his bold and ironic creations have repeatedly challenged our concept of fashion and beauty.

Throughout his career, Gaultier (born in 1952) has made it his mission to challenge conventional views on the social roles of fashion, while audaciously extending the fundamental manufacturing principles of fashion design. He uses a wide range of materials like feathers, crystals, animal skins, jet stones, metal cans or rubber – often in unconventional combinations – for his avant- garde creations, which are finished with superb Peter Lindbergh: Jean Paul Gaultier & Nadja Auermann, Paris, workmanship by his Paris couture atelier. Besides 2015. © Peter Lindbergh Studio, Paris / Gagosian Gallery this city, he finds inspiration in a variety of sources: Gaultier’s close cooperation with artists like Pierre from his celebration of different cultures – from et Gilles, Peter Lindbergh, Cindy Sherman and geishas to toreros – the world of pop and mass Andy Warhol is presented in extensive artistic media to the trends of subcultures like London and documentary film material, videos and punks or New Wave. photographs. Exclusively for the Munich venue, An openly gay fashion designer, he claims as Peter Lindbergh shot the lead images for poster his social ideal the right to be different and live and catalogue featuring Jean Paul Gaultier and according to one’s own individual identity. Gaultier Nadja Auermann. rose to fame with his kilt-like skirts for men, The show is not a mere fashion retrospective but a challenging conventional gender stereotypes and poetic contemporary installation: with the strong engrained fashion codes. Without a shadow of a social message we find in his work, the exhibition doubt, the designer has achieved cult status – both embraces various arts and reflects the spirit of in haute couture and in popular culture. Gaultier in an opulent extravaganza. The exhibition presents some 160 of his creations, The exhibition is organized by the Montreal dating from the early 1970s up to now. In addition Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison to his haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs, Jean Paul Gaultier and the Kunsthalle Munich. the show includes costumes produced for Pedro Almodóvar’s films and stage outfits for popstars, The Kunsthalle Munich is supported by like the famous bustier worn by Madonna in 1990 that caused a stir on her Blond Ambition Tour. Apart from the Queen of Pop, also Kylie Minogue and many other stars have loaned their Gaultier pieces Premium Partner: to be included in the exhibition.

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PARIS The exhibition features seven chapters that present some 160 creations covering Gaultier’s entire career: The Salon As a boy, Gaultier loved spending time in his grandmother’s beauty salon. He was fascinated by the old-fashioned charm of her garments – particularly by the corset, which was to become a recurrung motive in his oeuvre. Numerous stars have worn versions of his corsets with concentrically top-stitched bra cups, including Madonna during her legendary 1990 Blond Ambition Tour.

The Odyssey Adventure on the high seas invokes a world of essential and recurrent figures in Gaultier’s collections, where sailors frolic with mermaids, sirens and nymphs – the ultimate embodiment of masculine and feminine seduction. They are confronted with variations of madonna figures, usually representing virginity as opposed to the libidinous chimerae of the ocean. Nevertheless, at the same time, Gaultier imparts them an alluring air of lasciviousness.

The Muses The designer invites celebrities onto his catwalk who do not correspond to the prevailing canon of beauty, like Beth Ditto, the plus-size singer of the rock band Gossip. He breaks with social norms that define garments according to gender, by combining feminine and masculine attire or dressing men in women’s clothes and vice versa. It is only fitting that Gaultier was the first couturier to sign up androgynous models like Tanel Bedrossiantz. Also his cooperation with Conchita Wurst is presented here. Metropolis The metropolis is a melting pot where the flamboyant world of fashion meets the spectacular shows of cinema and television, music and dance. Gaultier has designed costumes for the stage, opera and cinema; for films likeThe Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) by Peter Greenaway, Kika (1993), Bad Education (2003) and The Skin I Live In (2011) by Pedro Almodóvar, The City of Lost Children (1995) by Marc Caro and Jean- Pierre Jeunet and The Fifth Element (1997) by Luc Besson. In 2002, the film connoisseur became the first couturier to sit on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. Urbain Jungle Gaultier creates a new aesthetic in which the garment personifies the dialogue between different cultures and ethnicities, thereby transcending geographical frontiers, religious beliefs and linguistic barriers. He creates hybrids, mixing the urban and the wild, the traditional and the modern, the animal and the sophisticated. A bullfighter’s bolero, shtreimels and dark sweeping rabbinical cloaks, a geisha’s kimono, a Mongolian jacket, flamenco skirts and African masks all have their place in Gaultier’s world. Punk cancan Gaultier renders a multifaceted image of Paris that draws on various eras. He is fascinated by the Paris of the Belle Époque around 1900, home to Toulouse-Lautrec and the Moulin Rouge. While paying homage to post-war icons like Juliette Gréco, he also taps into the everyday aesthetic of Parisiennes, from the concierge to the fine bourgeois lady. The couturier reinterprets symbols and clichés that he grew up with: the Eiffel tower, a beret, the trenchcoat. In stark contrast to the elegance of the French capital, the teenage Gaultier was enthralled by London’s Punks. He combines their unconventional attire – latex, leather, lace, tartan, safety pins, studs and metal spikes – with the delicate feathers, boas and frills of the French cancan. Skin deep and X-rated Gaultier’s collections explore the concepts of gender, nudity and eroticism. In many respects, the human body forms the basis of his work. Gaultier’s unusual approach to materials flouts the aesthetic norms for prêt-à-porter and haute couture. His universe has a liberal scattering of allusions to sexual practices like bondage, domination and submission. The Brides It’s a tradition to close an haute couture presentation with a wedding dress. In the fashion world it is considered a great honour for a model to be chosen by the couturier to wear the wedding dress and close the show. Inspired by a whole variety of sources, Gaultier’s brides frequently break away from the “princess image” that is associated with the role.

ACCOMPANYING EVENTS

“Re-Act!” – Art & Club Thursday, 5 November 2015, 8.30pm DJ duo Dapayk & Padberg take over the café: Eva Padberg and Niklas Worgt unite fashion and music, underground and mainstream. Special Guides from the Academy of Fashion and Design and the Fine Credits: View of the installation of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk Arts Academy guide through the exhibition. at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 17 – October 2, 2011 | Photo: MMFA, Denis Farley | € 14/€ 9 incl. Aftershow-Party at Harry Klein. Animated mannequins: a concept of UBU/Compagnie de création. | Emil Larsson, Gold corset, 2014 Corset in vintage lamé worn by Madonna, Blond Ambition World Tour, 1990, © Emil Larsson | Pierre & Gilles, The Virgin with the Serpents (Kylie Minogue), 2008, Painted photograph, framed by KH the artists, 181 x 137 cm (incl. frame), Auréole gown, long, sky blue pleated tulle and gold lamé ray Afterwork appliqués, long panels at the back. Virgins collection, Haute couture spring/summer 2007, © Pierre 21.10.15, 18.11.15, 16.12.15, 20.01.16 & Gilles | William Baker, Kylie Minogue, X Tour 2009, Immaculata, guipure lace gown with motifs appliquéd in white linen, Virgins collection, Haute couture spring/summer 2007, © Darenote Ltd. / Every third Wednesday of the month: enjoy the Kylie Minogue | Nacho Pinedo, Pedro Almodóvar, Victoria Abril and Jean Paul Gaultier on the release Gaultier exhibition until 10pm and spend the of the film Kika by Pedro Almodóvar (1993), © Nacho Pinedo / Archives Jean Paul Gaultier | Ellen von Unwerth, Survivors (Laetitia Casta, Vladimir McCary and Jenny Shimizu), 1993, Published in evening at the Café Kunsthalle with DJ music Interview magazine, Tattoos collection. Women’s prêt-à-porter, spring/summer 1994, © Ellen von Unwerth | Patrice Stable, View of the installation of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From (regular admission). If you want to know more the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at Grand Palais Paris, April 1–August 3 2015, 3rd creation from left about Gaultier’s fashion, join a guided tour at with Swarovski Crystal Spikes and Studs, © Swarovski | View of the installation of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 8.30pm (admission + € 7, max. 20 persons). June 17 – October 2, 2011, Photo MMFA, Denis Farley. Animated mannequins: a concept of UBU/ Or just stop by for a drink, the entrance to the Compagnie de création | View of the installation of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 17 – October 2, 2011, Photo Café Kunsthalle is free of charge. MMFA, Denis Farley. Animated mannequins: a concept of UBU/Compagnie de création Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Theatinerstrasse 8 | 80333 Munich T + 49 (0)89 / 22 44 12 | [email protected] www.kunsthalle-muc.de

Opening hours daily 10am–8pm except: 24.12. closed, 31.12., 9.2. 10am–5pm AfterworkKH every 3rd Wednesday of the month till 22pm (21.10.15, 18.11.15, 16.12.15, 20.1.16) Early opening for school groups: each Wednesday 9–10am. Please register per email ([email protected]) or telephone (+49 (0)89 / 22 44 12) Director Dr. Roger Diederen Director and Chief Curator of the MMFA, initiator of the exhibition Nathalie Bondil Exhibition Curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot Press enquiries Leonie Mellinghoff, T +49 (0)89 / 37 82 81 62, [email protected] Press images for download http://www.kunsthalle-muc.de/en/press_area/jean-paul-gaultier

Entrance fees standard: € 14 reduced fees: groups of 10+ and senior citizens (60+): € 12 students (< 30 years) and unemployed: € 7 school classes: € 0,50 p.p. young people (6–18 Jahre/years): € 1 children under 6: free of charge family pass for 2 adults and their (grand-)children (< 18 years): € 24 On Mondays, 50% discount on all admission fees.

Guided tours guided tours: Tuesday–Friday 10am–8pm; Saturday 10am–1pm, registration neccessary public guided tours (max. 20 pers.): € 7 + entrance fee, no registration possible Guided tours in languages other than German are available upon request. All tours must be announced.

Accompanying programme (in German only) e.g. lectures, thematic and curator’s tours, films, ARTregularsKH, AfterworkKH, “Re-Act!” Art & Club as well as programs for young people. Further information at www.kunsthalle-muc.de

Catalogue ed. by Thierry-Maxime Loriot, Knesebeck Verlag, 288 pages, 250 colour and black and white images (in German only), € 35 Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram facebook.com/kunsthallemuc, twitter.com/kunsthallemuc, instagram.com/kunsthallemuc #KunsthalleMuc Official expo hashtag: #JPGMUC