This summer the Barbican’s art gallery puts on the first major exhibition devoted to French fashion designer and gay fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier.
It is hard to believe that Gaultier has been shaping fashion for over 40 years, and this major fashion retrospective aims to understand where he came from and how he got there.
In what promises to be a “theatrically-staged exhibition”, over 160 of his couture and ready-to-wear garments are on display from the early 1970s to present day – and yes, that does mean conical bras and corsets worn by Madonna on her Blonde Ambition World Tour! Plus Kylie stage constumes, and movie costumes used for Pedro Almodóvar films and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element.
It also highlights his work with artists and photographers including David LaChapelle, Pierre et Gilles, Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, Stéphane Sednaoui, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol.
