Massive tribal jewellery covered the long necks and arms of most of the models so that, as they moved, you heard the sound of rattling coral, ivory, bone and turquoise. The giraffe necks of some models had been painted bright blue or yellow; others had their faces dotted with paint in a way that suggested tribal scarification. For a long time I have been interested in the relationship between fashion and art. I attended Gaultier, Valentino and Ungaro's couture shows in Paris last week and came away convinced that art galleries should hold regular shows of recent couture clothing. There are two reasons why I believe couture approaches the realms of high art. The first is that each garment is a unique act of creation by an artist whose feel for texture, colour and composition may amount to genius, as in the case of John Galliano or Gaultier. The second is that, like all works of art, these clothes are created without any serious reference to function - to the practical possibility that a real woman might be able to wear them.

Jean-Paul Gaultier

 Gaultier's jaw-dropping outfits, for example, transcend culture and time. He treats his models the way an artist uses a canvas - as blank surfaces on which to embroider his wildest, most outrageous fantasies and as vehicles for his surrealistic imaginings. And I have to say that one of the most interesting aspects of the Gaultier show for me was that the painted and scarified giants who modeled the clothes were slightly frightening. For the finale, they all returned wearing only the bare bones of the clothes: the corsets, bras, high heels, fantastic jewels and headdresses. For a brief moment, I thought of the monstrous brigade of women who confront us in Picasso's first cubist masterpiece, the Demoiselles d'Avignon. Here was the same vision of European women seen through the prism of African tribal art, the same confrontational aesthetic, the same fascination mixed with fear of women's bodies. For, under the gorgeous fabrics and seductive colours, the models were encased in materials that are cold, hard and dangerous. Gaultier's clothes are not simply decorative masterpieces: they express feelings, ideas and emotions, like all works of art.

 

French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier's show at the 2004 Spring/Summer Haute Couture collections in Paris.
Photos: AFP & Reuters