Frock 'n' Roll
Paying homage to the golden age of pop rock when cyborg singer Grace Jones went Nightclubbing, Michael Jackson was Bad and Madonna was a Material Girl, Jean Paul Gaultier spring/summer 2013 ready-towear show at Paris Fashion Week was all about ’80s superstars who dominated the MTV music scene and took his clothing from quirky fashion to crazy cool.
A sartorial retro fit in all the right ways, fierce “Grace Jones” models wore iconic tuxedos, this time with lasersharp cutouts, one-piece jumpsuits and side-scooped jackets that exposed generous amounts of flesh.
Models emulating Annie Lennox, Madonna, Myle'ne Farmer, Boy George, Jane Birkin, Michael Jackson, Sade, ABBA, and David Bowie also pranced down the runway, while lookalike KISS members sat in the front row and cheered them on.
As Gaultier relates in his program notes, “This show is based on facts.
Any similarity with real events or characters is purely non-coincidental.”
Aside from the update on Jones’ iconic tuxedo, excitement levels soared with odes to Boy George during his Culture Club days in the form of fl owing silk kimonos, robes and rippling palazzo pants decorated in Japanese prints; Jane Birkin’s boy/girl tan suit with transparent organza jacket sleeves down to the elbows; and David Bowie’s outrageous Ziggy Stardust heyday, this time with Palais Royal stained glass prints and, of course, plenty of stars.
If we had to choose a favorite fashion statement, it would be Annie Lennox during her “Sweet Dreams” era, with model Hannelore Knuts dressed in a man-tailored, double-breasted jacket slashed nearly in half (front and back), butch cravat and languid suit pants.
