Couture High Art Stalks the Catwalk

 

Couture High Art Stalks the Catwalk

Art critic Richard Domet's jaw drops at the latest couture shows in Paris.

Photo: One of Jean Paul Gaultier's show-stopping creations. AFP

 

On Thursday night I saw something that made even this jaded art critic sit up and pay attention - Jean Paul Gaultier's couture show in Paris. As I sat there in my sober grey suit, a parade of beautiful Amazons passed by in their vertiginously high heels and towering piles of braided, coiled or frizzy hair. If the mannequins were not quite topless, they were dead sexy in gauzy silk jerseys with plunging necklines and skin-tight silk trousers. One Moroccan caftan slipped off a slim shoulder to reveal an evening gown as transparent as the flimsiest negligee. Under silk kimonos and monks' cowls were bodices, bustiers and laced leather corsets. On and on came the visual surprises, jokes and shocks. Even the bride who ended the show wore Samurai-inspired body armour. As each new apparition stepped forward, the intensity of the colours made your eyes pop: aubergine worn over poison green, the flounces of a black gipsy skirt embroidered with harsh yellow and scarlet flowers, a black model wearing a neck-to-toe body stocking in chocolate brown embroidered with white abstract patterns. Every detail was thought out down to the last embroidered bead, sequin and python-skin glove.