Gaultier loves to put on a show. And in case you didn't know that, you could probably deduce it from the acrobat-ninjas that flipped down the runway at the beginning of his Fall collection. The curtains parted to reveal Bond, James Bond, natty in a tuxedo. He did his lap. Then came his successor: Blond. James Blond.
Blond is the androgynous (even by male-model standards) Andrej Pejic, who has lately cast a spell on Gaultier. He teetered down the runway in a shirt unbuttoned to his navel, a pair of stiletto-heeled booties, and a cascade of Veronica Lake curls. The cast of characters that followed could've represented villains or allies, or even 45 different alterna-Bonds. The show was mainly an exegesis on the tuxedo and its trappings—and when you think about it, it's sort of clever to do it through the lens of Bond, the classic Black Ops in black tie. There was plenty of silliness in the execution, though: Tuxes with hot pants and fishnets, tuxes with long, navy-buttoned skirts, and a whole passage of neoprene jackets and tuxes with wet suits. (Has JPG, like Neil Barrett in Milan, caught a bit of a scuba bug?)
The name Thierry Mugler has hung over Paris like a specter this week, but the gold (as in finger) padded pants and embossed jacket shown here came closer to vintage Mugler than most of what Nicola Formichetti and company sent out for that house's revival. There were some buyable items scattered throughout (including the new shades Gaultier is making with Alain Mikli, though they looked readier for The Matrix than Moonraker). Whatever else, JPG keeps it interesting—you could say he likes his shtick shaken, not stirred.
