Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture S/S 2004 Paris

Such ease and sophistication, miles above the last few collections of his which were just costumes and not even good ones at that.

His hand used to be so delicate and precise when it came to detail and construction, these dresses just flow with the body. You totally understand why is it that so many designers credit him as their mentor.
 
There is an excellent documentary film on Gaultier, called Les Falbalas de Jean Paul Gaultier, where they follow the making of this collection and also view it through an old movie that inspired the collection, also called "Falbalas", or Paris Frills in English, by Jacques Becker (1945). I saw the documentary on TV that year and ever since I've hoped to see it again, it was so good and gave an authentic glimpse into how collections are made and how inspirations behind them become ideas and garments!

They really focus on the work of the seamstresses and Jean Paul. I especially remember them making the outfit Hannelore wore, and showing how the jersey dress was embroidered with individual scales of a snakeskin (or crocodile skin?), and her trench which was real snakeskin treated somehow to make it water repellent and transparent. Also Jean Paul draped the black gown on Anastassia himself, and I remember there was some trial and error behind this dress. The wedding dress was an homage to the Falbalas film and its scene where a live model dressed in a white gown turns into a doll/mannequin.
 
^^From what I know about vintage French couture, the original “Falbalas” movie featured costumes by the original (Marcel) Rochas. Did our dear Olivier reference that during him tenure there?

anyways, thanks for that tip. I tried to google it, but no luck :(

In that “Day before...” doc by Logic Prigent, they show one of his teammates making an outfit with individual crocodile scales, but with some obscure Irish knitting technique. Knitting, with crocodile? From a technical standpoint, I can’t possibly imagine that that’d be easy, so I love JPG for that alone.
 

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