The number of fashion exhibitions and fashion related events is constantly on the rise. Yet, the monumental amount of information, materials and garments on display quite often leaves visitors simply crushed and unable to grasp them all. If you're looking for more contained fashion-related events that do not focus only on garments and pretty gowns, opt for "Jean Paul Gaultier: Be My Guest" at the Fashion Space Gallery.
First launched in 2010, the gallery situated within London College of Fashion's Oxford Circus campus, was recently relaunched, though it still preserves its main aim, supporting both established artists and cutting-edge and emerging talents.
"Be My Guest" - a satellite show linked to "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk", a major event that will soon be opening at the Barbican Art Gallery – features the French designer’s graphic artwork from the 1980s on, including the couturier’s unique designs for invitations to Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter shows, as well as his iconic advertising campaigns.
Being the first major exhibition devoted to Gaultier in the UK, the main event at the Barbican will naturally be more spectacular, with over 165 couture and ready-to-wear garments, costumes for film and performances (including iconic pieces such as the conical bra and corsets worn by Madonna and costumes for Pedro Almodóvar's movies).
Yet "Be My guest" promises to be equally intriguing since people with an interest in photography, illustration and graphic design will be able to rediscover materials such as the campaigns for Gaultier's first women’s Prêt-à-Porter collection launched for the Spring/Summer 1977or for his "Tribute to Frida Kahlo" Collection (Spring/Summer 1998).
Throuhout his career the French designer created his own cultural geography, incorporating Russian, Hebrew and Eastern alphabets and orthography into his clothing, and the invitations and advertising campaigns feature his very personal iconography.
In Gaultier's universe terms such as space, place and landscape, do not have any boundaries: silhouettes evoking women from the '40s appear in his posters in bright acid colours, while national identity is erased in favour of a transnational hybridisation that mixes Frida Kalho and Che Guevara with religious images appropriated or borrowed from Roman Catholicism or Orthodox Judaism.
Fashion is represented not only by garments and powerful photographs, but illustrations and promotional materials as well, and while the materials on display here have mainly got a specific commercial and marketing aim, they can lead to interesting debates about the power of the image and the importance of articulating specific messages, while providing graphic inspirations as well.
Co-curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot (who also worked on "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk") and Alison Moloney from London College of Fashion, "Be My Guest" will be the first exhibition from Fashion Space Gallery’s new exhibitions and events programme devised by its new director Ligaya Salazar.
Professor Frances Corner OBE, Pro-Vice Chancellor of UAL and Head of London College of Fashion, stated in a press release about the event: "We are honoured to be exhibiting, for the first time, this extensive body of work. Jean Paul Gaultier’s influence transcends the catwalk and the spectrum of his image-making will inspire a new generation across the breadth of the fashion industry."
"Jean Paul Gaultier: Be My Guest, Fashion Space Gallery", 11 April – 31 May 2014. "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" is organised by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris. The exhibition is on view at the Barbican from 9th April to 25th August 2014.
Image credits for this post
1. Ad campaign for the "Fin de siècle" Collection, Women’s Prêt-à-Porter Spring/Summer 1995; Art Direction and Photography: Jean Paul Gaultier
2. Ad campaign for the "Tribute to Frida Kahlo" Collection, Women's Prêt-à-Porter Spring/Summer 1998; Illustration by Fred Langlais and Art Direction by Jean Paul Gaultier
3. Ad campaign for the "Chic Rabbis" Collection, Women’s Prêt-à-Porter Autumn/Winter 1993-1994; Art Direction and Photography: Jean Paul Gaultier
4. Show Invitation for "Constructivist" (or Russian) Collection. Women’s Prêt-à-Porter Autumn/Winter 1986-1987
5. Ad campaign for the "Elegance Contest" and "Casanova at the Gym" collections, Women’s and Men’s Prêt-à-Porter Spring/Summer 1992; Art Direction and Photography: Jean Paul Gaultier
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