PortraitKnown for her ability to “twist” classics with surprising details and unstructured cuts, the Japanese designer, founder of the fashion label Sacai, has imagined a mischievous haute couture collection for the house of Jean Paul Gaultier.
This time, there it is. The eagerly awaited collection of the Japanese Chitose Abe for the French house Jean Paul Gaultier finally left the workshops, on July 7, to parade in Paris. His postponement had ended up taking on the air of running gag : announced on March 4, 2020, before the first confinement, the two parties had to give up organizing a parade in July 2020 and then in January 2021.
“What should have been completed in a few weeks turned into over a year of development. The workshops were infinitely patient and very supportive ”, says Chitose Abe (the “ e ” speak out “ é »), Founder of Sacai, a label that she created in 1999 and which today counts among the most cutting-edge and adored of the fashion scene.
It was in 2019 that Gaultier approached him, even before bidding farewell to haute couture in an explosive parade at the Théâtre du Châtelet in January 2020. “I was amazed. “ A meeting is organized in the couture salons of rue Saint-Martin, the historic headquarters of the Parisian brand, in front of an Isfahan, this pink and creamy macaroon with raspberries and lychees by Pierre Hermé that Jean Paul Gaultier adores and insisted on making for him. discover.
“I said yes straight away”
“Monsieur Gaultier has a powerful charm. I said yes straight away. ” The mission is to imagine the first couture collection of a new chapter of the Parisian brand: from now on, various designers will come in turn to deliver their interpretation of the Gaultier universe each season – a similar rotating system has been introduced for ready-to-wear as well.
This game of passing the baton – also experienced at Moncler or Pucci – has its reasons. Not only does Jean Paul Gaultier hold enough aesthetic “codes” to give to other designers to chew on for at least two centuries (corset, striped shirt, Perfecto, skirt for all, overalls, SM outfit, etc.), but the incessant change of creator guarantees new blood, a renewed media visibility, without having to attach, by a golden contract, the loyalties of an artistic director.
It is in a magazine that Jean Paul Gaultier remembers having discovered Chitose Abe: “I came across one of her creations, a striped sweater on the front, guipure on the back. I immediately found myself in this model that she had known how to appropriate. I remembered his name and then discovered his work on bombers, another of my favorite pieces. Apart from the corset, we have a lot in common. “
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