Julien Dossena x Jean Paul Gaultier

[Mutterlein]

Phoebe Philo for Gaultier would be soo interesting.

Would it? It's not really her wheelhouse.

 

[Mutterlein]

i am already bored of the can of worms i opened.

Why should a designer like Dossena have a better understanding of haute couture than for example Simone Rocha, Rei Kawakubo, Bouchra Jarra or Iris van Herpen? Donatella Versace? Consuelo Castiglioni? (that would be major!) or even the duo of Khaite (one of them is female).

what i wanted to say that's nowadays it's not only a question about it's gonna be a male or female designer who get's the job, it's the networking (call it fashion family) that works best.

it's just about the narrow creative field Gaultier chooses from. it makes sense, is safe and i understand that he loves to work with people he likes. But it's not a challenge.

For me Glenn, Haider & Julien are not so much different of the way they create, how they became fashion leaders, for what they are standing for and where they get their ideas from. Olivier was and is different. He has a much wider, experimental (sadly not always tasteful) approach than all four of them - and it showed in his collection for Gaultier a lot. And i loved it because it was so fearless and fresh.

My favorite designers are all women and while this is very much open to argumemt, I personally believe that women tend to make better womenswear designers.

But the question isn't whether or not a woman should be tapped to do an haute couture collection, it's about doing a Jean Paul Gaultier collection.

Simone Rocha does a tribute to Kawakubo every season, I doubt she has it in her to do anything with JPG. Frankly, she's not the most original designer and I'm not sure how much she would bring to the table. Same issue with Khaite (Cate, it's just one woman not two people), she's not the most original or skilled designer.

Bouchra Jarrar could be interesting but she's not very relevant at the moment and part of the exercise is getting a designer who will bring some buzz to the appointment.

The whole point is to keep his name alive and energized.

Consuelo Castiglioni? Donatella? I fear we're reaching with these, no? Do we even care what they're doing with their own collections let alone JPG?

Marine Serre, Nensi Dojaka, and Wales Bonner would all be a lot more interesting.

Another important thing to remember is that any potential designer should share some values with JPG and unfortunately that rules out a lot of great women designers who make real clothes and not drag costumes.

That said, I would actually love to see what Isabel Marant would do along with Natacha.

 

[jeanclaude]

Would it? It's not really her wheelhouse.

I know...but it would be a real challenge for her to be outside of her comfort zone (aka minimalism).

Nah, I know it´s not gonna happen. But a gay can dream!
Olivier Theyskens seems more feasible; and equally interesting for me to behold!!

PS. If she would still be alive, I´d also say Isabel Toledo. She was unique.

 

[squilliam]

Im not really excited for this as some of the previous designers, Julien does a decent job at Paco Rabanne but it's nothing special. Maybe he'll surprise us though.
Personally I want to see designers who don't work as much anymore at all or at least with couture. I'd like to see olivier theyskens, ghesquiere, manish aurora, Ralph Rucci ...even galliano (I feel like he'd do great with Gaultier's aesthetic). As for women designers, I don't think iris van herpen or sarah burton can really get out of their narrow aesthetic. Sarah has done some slightly JPG things in the past I suppose. I also don't think that Miuccia has been doing anything good for awhile now so I don't think a collection by her would be all that interesting. I'd like to see Bouchra Jarrar and Yiqing Yin (who've both done some couture in the past).

 

[tricotineacetat]

What this whole game of throwing designer names around shows is that the idea of showcasing guest designers at JPG couture will only ever work for a limited amount of time, eventually all the plausible names have had their chance or the whole thing will have lost it's luster. None of the established names working at LVMH or Kering as well as the legendary ones who are at retiring age are likely candidates - If anything at all, getting Martin Margiela out of retirement for a one-off would be the biggest PR coup for this operation that would make a lot of sense, given their previous shared history.

 

[MulletProof]

I think it's also that the larger share of female designers prefer to design wardrobes for real people than couture showpieces. The antithesis of Gaultier.

Hm, sort.. of. It's not strictly a preference. Growing up a women's clothes, especially in foundation years (before puberty), wires you very differently than someone who's only ever looked at it from the outside and exclusively sees it as fun and not as a reality with multiple angles.. you become familiar with a certain, incessant type of judgement even from adults. It does not make you more practical or a stranger to eccentric/bombastic costumes, femininity-as-conceived-through-parody getups or scandalously sexual attire, especially in teenage years when you're testing, learning to manage/manipulate the judgement that is always there and having fun with it.

Reality sinks in once you enter adulthood, have to make a living and realise that opportunities are proportional to that judgement and that even womenswear design is a male-dominated field full of men that in most cases don't know s*it about women but will be the first ones to rush and tell you what we want (in a way you've never seen women do when they design menswear, ever saw Ann insisting on trousers with crotch cutouts so men can show a tiny bit of ball?) and just like in any other male-dominated field, you have to extra prove your capacity to generate profit in order to be trusted and gain opportunities and that will not come from the financial risks of eccentricity, gaudiness, or relying on a pop star to bring stability to your label. So in short, it's mostly survival. And the real people are in fact just other women in similar positions who need high quality clothes with a heavily calculated dose of experimentation and conservatism in order to be taken seriously in most fields, way way harder to do than designing for a stage.. which, believe it or not, anyone who can afford it can do.

Speaking of designers who had to tone it way down in order to survive and that still didn't work: Anne Valerie Hash would be great. Veronique Branquinho. Moon Young Hee. Sharon Wauchob. Zowie Broach. An Vandevorst. I agree Nensi would be cool, just to see if there's more potential with larger resources and under a specific 'theme'. I never really cared for JPG's work but the fact that this is short-lived makes it fun and some people deserve the attention.

@jeanclaude I forgot she was dead! crazy. In my mind she's like Adrover, somewhere but still out there. That reminds me of Sophia Kokosalaki..

 

[LadyJunon]

Hm, sort.. of. It's not strictly a preference. Growing up a women's clothes, especially in foundation years (before puberty), wires you very differently than someone who's only ever looked at it from the outside and exclusively sees it as fun and not as a reality with multiple angles.. you become familiar with a certain, incessant type of judgement even from adults. It does not make you more practical or a stranger to eccentric/bombastic costumes, femininity-as-conceived-through-parody getups or scandalously sexual attire, especially in teenage years when you're testing, learning to manage/manipulate the judgement that is always there and having fun with it.

Reality sinks in once you enter adulthood, have to make a living and realise that opportunities are proportional to that judgement and that even womenswear design is a male-dominated field full of men that in most cases don't know s*it about women but will be the first ones to rush and tell you what we want (in a way you've never seen women do when they design menswear, ever saw Ann insisting on trousers with crotch cutouts so men can show a tiny bit of ball?) and just like in any other male-dominated field, you have to extra prove your capacity to generate profit in order to be trusted and gain opportunities and that will not come from the financial risks of eccentricity, gaudiness, or relying on a pop star to bring stability to your label. So in short, it's mostly survival. And the real people are in fact just other women in similar positions who need high quality clothes with a heavily calculated dose of experimentation and conservatism in order to be taken seriously in most fields, way way harder to do than designing for a stage.. which, believe it or not, anyone who can afford it can do.

Speaking of designers who had to tone it way down in order to survive and that still didn't work: Anne Valerie Hash would be great. Veronique Branquinho. Moon Young Hee. Sharon Wauchob. Zowie Broach. An Vandevorst. I agree Nensi would be cool, just to see if there's more potential with larger resources and under a specific 'theme'. I never really cared for JPG's work but the fact that this is short-lived makes it fun and some people deserve the attention.

I didn't mean to portray that wearable approach to fashion as less than (I think quite the opposite actually), I just think that it's a bit of shame that the industry has built this box around female designers, just like how I despise how black designers always seem to be synonymous with streetwear. I do see younger designers pushing against this though, but whether they're doing it well is up for debate.

 

[jeanclaude]

@jeanclaude I forgot she was dead! crazy. In my mind she's like Adrover, somewhere but still out there. That reminds me of Sophia Kokosalaki..

Isabel Toledo is one of my favourites. She was so talented, she had such a special charm and personal style...and sadly she was unfairly underrated. She deserved more, she was a true couturière...

I love her beautiful smile.

 

[jeanclaude]

Love this video too (I know is totally off-topic with this thread...but I can´t help it! )

 

[eugenius]

I guess I can kiss that Tisci/JPG dream goodbye.

This one is the least interesting to me. I’m not a fan of Paco Rabanne’s work, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer seriously, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer’s take on JPG especially serious.

Regardless, I’ll still click on the corresponding thread in July.

 

[Lola701]

I guess I can kiss that Tisci/JPG dream goodbye.

This one is the least interesting to me. I’m not a fan of Paco Rabanne’s work, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer seriously, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer’s take on JPG especially serious.

Regardless, I’ll still click on the corresponding thread in July.

I think this is the opportunity for him to show his personal aesthetic without having to use the codes of Paco Rabanne. Obviously he gives a lot of himself there but it couldn’t be more different in terms of aesthetic even if Gaultier’s mentor, Cardin, had a thing for space-age himself.

‘One thing Dossena and Gaultier have in common is the mix and match of influences…

Tisci for Gaultier is one I’ve never think about…Maybe because his Gaultier’s influence, mostly in menswear, has never been so subtle…But that would be very interesting. I’m afraid it might be a bit cliche though

 

[Mutterlein]

I guess I can kiss that Tisci/JPG dream goodbye.

This one is the least interesting to me. I’m not a fan of Paco Rabanne’s work, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer seriously, so I can’t take the new Paco Rabanne designer’s take on JPG especially serious.

Regardless, I’ll still click on the corresponding thread in July.

I would not rule it out! It's a great idea!!!