Product Description

Jean-Paul Gaultier is fashion's polymath. His name is a byword for outrageous, witty and even revolutionary fashion. As a designer, a TV star and gay icon he has used his subversive sense of humour to make us question our attitudes towards sex, social values and cultural morality. But it would be wrong to assume that he is merely the court jester of the international fashion world. He has never failed to produce collections of total originality that inspire as much as they shock. He has been designing for twenty years, and never once has he followed the fashion: he has never been anything less than revolutionary. Colin McDowell, in this authorized, in-depth book, explores how this has happened.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1475313 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Colin McDowell is a fashion historian and writer. He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio, and has written for every major newspaper and fashion magazine in London, most frequently for the Sunday Times. Colin McDowell currently lives in Folkestone, Kent. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED TITLES Galliano, McDowell's Directory of Twentieth Century Fashion, Shoes, Fashion and Fantasy, Status, Style and Glamour, Sex, Power and Clothes, The Designer Scam, The Literary Companion of Fashion, Forties Fashion and the New Look, The Man of Fashion

Customer Reviews

Finally a great book about Gaultier!
Although it took 25 years after Gaultier first started designing under his own name for someone to dedicate a book to him, it was well worth the wait. McDowell, as with his book on Galliano, does a lavish job on Gaultier's life and designs. The book is packed with runway photos and details about some of the collections. My only complaints about the book (and they are very minor complaints): McDowell goes into over-detail about Gaultier's life, especially up to 1976 when he first started designing his own label, making for slow reading for half of the book; a few of the photos are mislabelled with the wrong collection (mostly the couture photos); and although there are some great runway photos in the book, a lot of Gaultier's show-stopping designs in the past are not represented, and there aren't enough photos from men's collections. A great book though!

Gaultier fans--this is the book you've been waiting for!
Colin McDowell's peek into the wild world of Jean Paul Gaultier is both long overdue and well worth the wait! From his earliest childhood memories to his 2000 couture show and all points inbetween, McDowell reveals all in the same manner Gaultier designs his collections--with wit, irreverence, and style! This lavishly illustrated book has pictures and sketches (sadly, not Gaultier's own) from his most famous collections, including some rare and unusual ones. Photo coverage starts in heavily from around the 1989 collections, but earlier eighties collections are glimpsed here and there throughout the book. McDowell punctuates with notable quotes and images of Gaultier's influences, from pin-up queens to Physique Pictorial, from the great couturiers to street fashion. Smartly written and solidly designed (it even has Gaultier's nautical stripes in the end caps!) this book is a MUST for all Gaultier fans and admirers. It explains, in vivid detail, how he became the fashion icon that he is today!