Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2018

Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall/Winter 2018 couture show was an ode to Le Smoking, the tuxedo suit for women created by Yves Saint Laurent that has become a mainstay of Gaultier’s repertoire. In one of those semantic leaps he is fond of, it also doubled as a celebration of La Cigarette, as the words ‘’Smoking or No Smoking’’ were projected against the backdrop.
This was a collection about tailoring and its versatility across genders, kicking off with a series of men’s looks worn by models, including five dancers from Gaultier’s upcoming ‘’Fashion Freak Show’’ musical revue.
The self-style ‘’enfant terrible’’ of the fashion world took smoke as his inspiration for a see-through dress decked out in swirling embellishments, or a wedding gown with a featherlight, waspy train that looked like it could vanish into thin air as it twirled on the runway.
The collection also featured a pair of male and female models walking in step for the finale and showcasing their breasts behind transparent panels with the slogan ‘’Free the nipple’’ in a timely callback to his early days of questioning gender rules.

©Jean Paul Gaultier