Stripes, Tears and Innovation
Jean Paul Gaultier and Glenn Martens’ haute couture show push boundaries
By Zack Zens, Fashion Staff Writer
In fashion’s recent memory, Jean Paul Gaultier has paved the way for a bold and expressive modern fashion iconography; even more so, the bulk of Gaultier’s work is accompanied by its expert development of consequential style innovations.
This is truly a story of two brilliant designers coalescing on the exact mark of marvelous artistic collaboration. Glenn Martens, designer and creative director of both Diesel and Y/Project, has brought about a myriad of powerful trends in streetwear and fashion more broadly, often questioning the very concept of gender and garment construction in his work (Cantarini, 2022). Martens began his start, working under Gaultier before his own noted achievements took him elsewhere on his own journey.
Ultimately, the powerful synergy of these two designers has entwined with an almost romantic obsession toward pushing and shifting the boundaries of fashion potential. Jean Paul Gaultier and Glenn Martens’ Spring/Summer 2022 Haute Couture Collection elegantly utilizes geometric lines, unique fabrics and innovative silhouettes, capturing something that is unconventionally eye-catching.
Martens and Gaultier implement explorative elements of geometric lines as a means of reimagining the female silhouette, creating new, almost unimaginable pieces. The quintessential implementation of geometric lines from Glenn Martens’ own mind refreshes and uplifts the structure of Gaultier’s design prowess. These sharp lines ultimately help facilitate a “V” shape which Martens is known for, drawing the silhouette in centrally, creating the appearance of a thinner, taller and almost otherworldly figure (Davidson, 2022). Even in knitted pieces, this obsession with geometry and fabric structure carries through, facilitating garments that use texture and relife to create depth and intrigue (Chuang, 2022). These explorations yield pieces that are continually captivating yet unequivocally flattering. There are few other designers who have similarly mastered the elements of geometric proportion as a prominent design feature.
Martens and Gaultier explored both contemporary and unconventional fabrics, in addition to old and traditional ones. Martens and Gaultier’s choice of bold tweeds, meshes and knits culminate in a fresh take on haute couture gowns, looking to past trends to forge a decidedly reinvigorated movement of design (Cantarini, 2022). Though Gaultier is no stranger to the use of sheer and spandex fabrics, this collection sees these materials encroaching on a rather unconventional stage: haute couture design.
Martens’ use of streetwear influence is omnipresent throughout his work at the Y/Project, and through this collaboration, these fabrics work more broadly to innovate form and style to either dismantle gender or enhance it. Martens often blurs the lines of gender convention by opting to cannibalize traditionally masculine garments like core jackets for female ready-to-wear; moreover, Martens’ focus on the use of larger and oversized clothing helps neutralize gender conventions for both women’s and men’s clothing alike (Hilderman, 2017). It must be said, however, that continued adherence to some traditional haute couture design marks like complex embroidery, delicate beading, rare feathers and luxurious chiffons help bring this collection together, displaying the collective skill and talent of each house (Davidson, 2022).
With geometry and fabric duly noted, Gaultier and Martens ultimately excel most in their meditations on silhouette, creating garments that feel as dazzling and alien as a show from twenty years into the distant, unknown future. Drawing heavily from past collections by Gaultier as well as the recent innovations of Martens’ own work, each piece dares to form a new and unconventional examination of the human form, slicing at the hip and aggressively pulling in to create a shapely broken hourglass (Chuang, 2022). The unique cut-away structure of these garments, creates, in the absence of something, so much more. There are few other collections that dare to push the boundaries of fashion with such vigor, holding nothing but the honest work of design and art sacred.
With the pandemic relenting, a new Belle Époque, an intensified savoring focus on the beauty and value of life immediately succeeding or preceding traumatic events, is upon the world; thus, in this moment, designers aim to conjure a rekindled romanticization of traditional fabrics and the feminine silhouette, to better exemplify the richness and beauty of life (Cantarini, 2022). Both the past and future of these designers’ work are bright and resplendent, continually choosing to take the path less traveled and consistently making the difference between seasonal fashion and fashion legend. It is Martens and Gaultier’s use of geometry, unique fabrics and innovative silhouettes which bring the whole collection to its zenith. The power of a brush in the hands of a skilled painter is without limit, and so too is the power of fabric under the guiding hand of a brilliant designer; as such, the match of these two fashion giants has surely shaken the heavens of art itself.
Sources:
Cantarini, G. (2022, January 27). Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Spring/Summer 2022 by Glenn Martens. L’Official.
Chuang, V. (2022, January 27). Glenn Martens Designs Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2022 Couture. The Cut.
Davidson, E. (2022, January 27). All hail Glenn Martens, and his heart-stopping vision of Gaultier couture. Dazed.
Hilderman, A. (2017, April 7). Glenn Martens: A Defier of Gender and Genre. GPS Radar.