Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture F/W 2000.01 Paris

[vogue28]

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[vogue28]

VOGUE.COM

 

[Cocteau Stone]

Oh the furs and the velvet and the sequins! Teeters so closely to tacky, but it is so sleek, sharp and witty that Gaultier pulls it off. Also love the little umbrella handle handbag with the kilt fused trench.

 

[MagFan]

 

[Lola701]

Still IMO his weakest Couture collection at the time and probably one of his weakest ever.

 

[gallianostan]

Still IMO his weakest Couture collection at the time and probably one of his weakest ever.

really? this one?? when the last ten years of his career are right there?

 

[Lola701]

really? this one?? when the last ten years of his career are right there?

Yes, I really don’t like a lot clothes in this collection. The daywear is solid but the rest…ew!
In a way what save it is the mood, the coquettish approach of that era.
What I think we all hate about his last decade was how camp everything was but there were still some cute pieces.

My all time favorite Gaultier Couture collection is Fall 1998 btw.

In his last decade as a Couturier I can think of 2/3 great collections like the Mexican one or the Wood one. Even if we can agree that a lot of his last decade wasn’t great.

Let’s say that if there was a bottom 10 to be made of his Couture work, this collection would be part of it.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ If the face prints were omitted, along with the overstyling around the models’ faces, this offering would instantly improve by leaps and bounds. It’s the same problem with Riccardo’s last few years at Givenchy: The gimmicky prints overpowered the designs and cheapened everything. And sadly for Gaultier, cheap prints have come to defined his aesthetic for a whole new generation of fashion fans— along with the cone bras and tacky denim. This may be weak, but his finale was just so cheap cheap cheap. Nothing will come close to how awful it was to go out like that. If that final show was a pop group, it would be Steps at Eurovision.

 

[gallianostan]

his final show was horrible - a complete eyesore. unfortunately, his talent shrank as he grew older.

 

[Lola701]

his final show was horrible - a complete eyesore. unfortunately, his talent shrank as he grew older.

^^^ If the face prints were omitted, along with the overstyling around the models’ faces, this offering would instantly improve by leaps and bounds. It’s the same problem with Riccardo’s last few years at Givenchy: The gimmicky prints overpowered the designs and cheapened everything. And sadly for Gaultier, cheap prints have come to defined his aesthetic for a whole new generation of fashion fans— along with the cone bras and tacky denim. This may be weak, but his finale was just so cheap cheap cheap. Nothing will come close to how awful it was to go out like that. If that final show was a pop group, it would be Steps at Eurovision.

I wouldn’t say that his talent shrank as he grew older but I think his talent unfortunately was overshadowed by this kind of gimmicky-overtly nostalgic revisitation of his youth.

His last show was « terrible » but in a way, I don’t mind it because it was his last show, a last presentation, a last celebration.

I like camp sometimes. I think Galliano did some collections that were totally camp but it was on the verge of ridiculousness. Gaultier is camp in a very franchouillard, grand public way. A kind of camp that distract from the clothes in a way.

What I think was great about his Couture was the nonchalant approach. It wasn’t the ceremonial, stuffy kind of Couture. It’s a pity that that attitude towards the clothes themselves was not backed up by a certain minimalism in the styling.

I think about his « Palace » collection. In spirit, the idea of Couture clothes made to go the club, dancing, movement as opposed to a dinner or an opera night is super modern. But as it was referential to the Palace, we were served with tacky wigs, questionable styling tricks.

The reason why the Haider collection was my favorite was because it evoked the kind of Couture JPG did when he first showed. Very serious, very formal but not dusty or stiff.

This FW2000 collection with the ugly Eiffel Tower prints on velvet is like a preview to the kind of tacky gimmicks he did 15/20 years later.

 

[gallianostan]

I like camp sometimes. I think Galliano did some collections that were totally camp but it was on the verge of ridiculousness. Gaultier is camp in a very franchouillard, grand public way. A kind of camp that distract from the clothes in a way.

galliano's camp always felt witty, self-aware and intellectual. it always worked, and even when it was 'vulgar' it was beautiful and just right. shows like empress sisi/zsa zsa gabor, hardcore romance, freud or fetish... they were camp af but the vision was just so outsized and the clothes were so delicious... pure fashion theatre, in the way that gaultier's last ten years failed to emulate.

 

[Kanzai]

Regardless, he's still my favourite Français designer all time ( Lacroix and Nicolas in a lesser way since they didn't make menswear ). I have never been a hard fan of a British designers lol, even the Great Ones like Galliano, Lee, Vivienne,...

 

[lookatme]

While I wouldn’t rank this one amongst his absolute best, it still is fabulously chic. If there is a word I could use to describe Gaultier’s best Couture years, it would have to be “chic.” Such a terribly overused word that’s lost almost all its meaning, but it still somehow seems like the best word to describe that period of his early Couture up through about 2006-2008. 2009 seems to be when the shows took a sharp turn towards camp. I feel like his Mermaid collection was his last great show.

I don’t even mind the gaudy and corny prints here…I like the knowingness of them…it has the same kind of wink as the bodega-Catholic-candle prints used in the Virgin Madonna show. A sort of bad-taste-good-taste mix. And no one worked with velvet like Gaultier and his atelier.

What I also loved about this period of his Couture was how mature it was…the woman he was speaking to was so entirely adult. But like @Lola701 mentioned, never stuffy, never precious. These were serious clothes but with a good, hearty belly laugh thrown in.

 

[Kanzai]

I just wish we could get a chance to see a JPG couture collection by Martin Margiela, that would probably be the best gift Gaultier gives us when this guest designers campaign ends. Manifesting !!!

 

[gallianostan]

he was at his best in the nineties; my favourite collection has always been his spring 1998 couture. just so magical. full of romance and restraint. beautifully historicist, in a way that felt rich, layered and erudite - never camp. his couture debut (spring 1997?) was really great too.

there's something almost mystical about those two years - '97 and '98. everyone in paris was just firing on all cylinders. the late nineties can't be topped; it was fashion's best period if you ask me.

otherwise, i think his last great collection was probably spring 2002 couture. from that point onward his career just turned into a downwards incline towards camp. he had a few decent moments in the new millennium but they were very far and few between. once the 2010s rolled around, his collections just turned straight up hideous.

 

[Phuel]

I wouldn’t say that his talent shrank as he grew older but I think his talent unfortunately was overshadowed by this kind of gimmicky-overtly nostalgic revisitation of his youth.

His last show was « terrible » but in a way, I don’t mind it because it was his last show, a last presentation, a last celebration.

I like camp sometimes. I think Galliano did some collections that were totally camp but it was on the verge of ridiculousness. Gaultier is camp in a very franchouillard, grand public way. A kind of camp that distract from the clothes in a way.

What I think was great about his Couture was the nonchalant approach. It wasn’t the ceremonial, stuffy kind of Couture. It’s a pity that that attitude towards the clothes themselves was not backed up by a certain minimalism in the styling.

I think about his « Palace » collection. In spirit, the idea of Couture clothes made to go the club, dancing, movement as opposed to a dinner or an opera night is super modern. But as it was referential to the Palace, we were served with tacky wigs, questionable styling tricks.

The reason why the Haider collection was my favorite was because it evoked the kind of Couture JPG did when he first showed. Very serious, very formal but not dusty or stiff.

This FW2000 collection with the ugly Eiffel Tower prints on velvet is like a preview to the kind of tacky gimmicks he did 15/20 years later.

LOL that damn Eiffel Tower has made its way into so many of his HC offerings. It is all very Hysteric Glamour. I guess a clientele can demand an alternative design…???

There’s always a good dose of tackiness, camp and kitsch in all of them; from Gaultier, Galliano, McQueen to Ghesquiere’s Vuitton— even Armani is marinating in premium tackiness these days. But even with all the tackiness that’s threaded throughout Gaultier's sensibility, the very best of his can never be diminished. He’s in a league of his own.. Even with his strongest and most classic outing that’s best exemplified by his years at Hermes, that undeniable air of camp, but one that’s so refined a caricature of French bourgeoisie, was firmly tongue-in-cheek and not customey— just done so well, with not an image of the Eiffel Tower, Breton stripes, and tattoo print in sight, thank goodness. But his last decade was back to his Eurotrash show sensibilities and unfortunately, that’s what’s come to define his brand, his image and more tragically, his legacy.

HIs brand regressing back to his all-out campy eurotrash costume side must be a strategy to keep up and remain relevant with the current fashion times, of which is sadly the tackiest of any fashion era. When the likes of Harris Reed and Daniel Roseberry camp and drag sensibilities are celebrated as high fashion, it’s no wonder Gaultier’s tackier side is taking over in that eternal ego-stroking of “I did it first!” (….and he really did do it first…). I just wished his chosen guest designer for his HC were interesting and stronger candidates, instead of who's on trend.

Regardless, he's still my favourite Français designer all time ( Lacroix and Nicolas in a lesser way since they didn't make menswear ). I have never been a hard fan of a British designers lol, even the Great Ones like Galliano, Lee, Vivienne,...

Viv deserves respect for being the grandmother of punk and for her allegiance with Malcolm’s world, and for a brief moment in the 90s when she brilliantly married punk with anglocentric decadence that defined her proud English roots. But she lost the plot a long long long time ago. She really wasn't ever great.

 

[Cocteau Stone]

The Eiffel Tower dresses and the faces (bar the opening woven/intarsia knit one) were and still excessive. Maybe just one tower and a max of two of the faces would have sufficed, but I can't deny that the silhouettes of the looks themselves are incredibly chic and gorgeous. It's by look 26 or so it starts to go overboard, but frankly that is Gaultier in a way. There's a hastiness to a lot of what he does that makes a lot of his earlier couture and stronger collections feel more grounded and self aware, which is owing to his penchant for being a very last minute kind of person when it comes to pulling it all together.

I just can't pit this as one of his worst because there's something about the shapes here and the techniques that pull me back in. Even when the looks are so off and odd, I can't help but marvel at how was made and trying to figure out which seam goes where and what was cut and which point to give it that shape. Even the fabrications alone are far more swoon worthy than later couture shows.

Also have to keep in mind that this was an odd season of couture shows. Not entirely bad, but just very in their bubble. McQueen's "House Party" show for Givenchy, Chanel's 80s Weimer Jetson chic courtesy of Karl, Dior's Eyes Wide Shut show, with Versace giving a very LA languid collection... Odd ideas as the turn of the millennium was in swing and figuring out how to navigate it.

 

[Lola701]

LOL that damn Eiffel Tower has made its way into so many of his HC offerings. It is all very Hysteric Glamour. I guess a clientele can demand an alternative design…???

There’s always a good dose of tackiness, camp and kitsch in all of them; from Gaultier, Galliano, McQueen to Ghesquiere’s Vuitton— even Armani is marinating in premium tackiness these days. But even with all the tackiness that’s threaded throughout Gaultier's sensibility, the very best of his can never be diminished. He’s in a league of his own.. Even with his strongest and most classic outing that’s best exemplified by his years at Hermes, that undeniable air of camp, but one that’s so refined a caricature of French bourgeoisie, was firmly tongue-in-cheek and not customey— just done so well, with not an image of the Eiffel Tower, Breton stripes, and tattoo print in sight, thank goodness. But his last decade was back to his Eurotrash show sensibilities and unfortunately, that’s what’s come to define his brand, his image and more tragically, his legacy.

HIs brand regressing back to his all-out campy eurotrash costume side must be a strategy to keep up and remain relevant with the current fashion times, of which is sadly the tackiest of any fashion era. When the likes of Harris Reed and Daniel Roseberry camp and drag sensibilities are celebrated as high fashion, it’s no wonder Gaultier’s tackier side is taking over in that eternal ego-stroking of “I did it first!” (….and he really did do it first…). I just wished his chosen guest designer for his HC were interesting and stronger candidates, instead of who's on trend.

You know I love Tackiness. But I love tackiness when it’s intentional, obvious, pushed to the max even.
What I think I can command from Gaultier, and for me his contribution to HC, was his fun, tongue and cheek but also cleverly inventive approach to it. He treated Couture like RTW. It became a laboratory for techniques, for styling, for everything.

The Eiffel towers here are tacky but it’s a result of experimentation.
But yes, compared to a lot of people, this is in a league of his own, particularly because it was a time where Gaultier wasn’t a prisoner of his references. This is obviously « Le Paris de Nikki » but there’s a lot of charm, allure and added references to the mix. I think the RTW FW2000 was more successful.

You know that I love his work for Hermes. The balance between the relevancy of his RTW at Hermes and the fantasy of his Couture was perfect.
JPG, maybe because he is a very popular figure, tends to go for very Grand public references, as someone who can embrace a theme. Because Hermes’s customers were older, his work took another dimension and gained in maturity.
There was no 80’s shoulders at Hermes! And god knows how good his tailoring was there. And he took the dressmaking at another level. I remember lace dresses that were fantastic. He is still imo the best designer who took the helm of Hermes.

I know there’s a mythology around Margiela but it was maybe too pragmatic for my taste. Gaultier added fun and fantasy to his pragmatism…Even when he went back to his old ways with collections themed around Tennis lol.

Also have to keep in mind that this was an odd season of couture shows. Not entirely bad, but just very in their bubble. McQueen's "House Party" show for Givenchy, Chanel's 80s Weimer Jetson chic courtesy of Karl, Dior's Eyes Wide Shut show, with Versace giving a very LA languid collection... Odd ideas as the turn of the millennium was in swing and figuring out how to navigate it.

FW2000 was really an odd season but I think that 2000 was an odd year all around for fashion because there was a need, an expectation for designers to express strong statements regarding what the new millenium
will be.
I loved Chanel and Versace for that FW2000 Couture season weirdly.

I have always thought that the Versace collection could have been a Valentino one. It was probably (with SS2000 Couture) one of Donatella’s smoothest collection and I think there she established her language.

Chanel was weird, in a good way. And it’s probably the first collection from Karl at Chanel where I can use that word.
A playful mix of influences and IMO an intentional desire to challenge taste, beyond experimentations. Because 1999 in Couture for him was mostly about experimentations.

 

[Cocteau Stone]

^ Oh I've certainly come around to the Chanel collection, and the set that is Fall and Spring 1999 couture with Fall and Spring 2000 couture is rather marvelous. So experimental, playful, and joyously weird as if Karl discovered something new in himself. Versace was also fabulous and direct, but when looking at the rest of the season yeah it was odd. Excitably odd because new things were happening and the designers were unsure, but still had a lot of confidence to just get on with it. Plus, Chanel was holding a show at the Piscine Keller (still can't get over this; again, in a good way).

 

[lookatme]

You know that I love his work for Hermes. The balance between the relevancy of his RTW at Hermes and the fantasy of his Couture was perfect.
JPG, maybe because he is a very popular figure, tends to go for very Grand public references, as someone who can embrace a theme. Because Hermes’s customers were older, his work took another dimension and gained in maturity.
There was no 80’s shoulders at Hermes! And god knows how good his tailoring was there. And he took the dressmaking at another level. I remember lace dresses that were fantastic. He is still imo the best designer who took the helm of Hermes.

I know there’s a mythology around Margiela but it was maybe too pragmatic for my taste. Gaultier added fun and fantasy to his pragmatism…Even when he went back to his old ways with collections themed around Tennis lol.

Completely agree. Gaultier's Hermes is untouchable, for me.