Burlesque Boutique’s Bespoke Hall of Fame

This month we’re exploring the history of one of the most notable couturiers of living memory - who just happens to also be the one most associated with burlesque - Jean Paul Gaultier.

While most of us know of his long and productive association with Dita Von Teese, Gaultier’s relationship with burlesque dates back further than his relationship with Dita, and seems largely to have begun with her ex-husband Marilyn Manson.

In 2003, when Manson was rumoured to be considering retiring from music (rumours since proven to be untrue) his ninth live tour ‘Grotesk Burlesk’ was largely styled by Gaultier. For nearly a year the tour, which travelled Eurasia, Japan and North America, played out a transgressive version of a classic vaudeville or burlesque show of the 1930s. The elaborate Gaultier costumes had to stand up to set piece performances such as huge dance numbers and live music performances and it was this, as much as anything else, that earned Gaultier a reputation as making superbly fitted, but also highly performing, couture.

Gaultier and burlesque

It’s an odd blend, to be honest. Gaultier has brought burlesque to the forefront of his collections time and again (most notably in 2010 and 2014) and has often created iconic stage costumes with a burlesque theme such as Madonna’s cone bra and Kylie Minogue’s corset-based dresses. But burlesque is rarely the first choice for catwalk shows because it’s a hard sell to the average fashion buyer being (a) unlikely to appeal to the women who buy haute couture (b) a clothing aesthetic that is immediately identifiable, therefore difficult to subvert or play with. This has never stopped Gaultier using burlesque as a primary source for his catwalk shows, and it’s significant that in 2010 at his first show after leaving Hermès, it was Dita and corsetry that were central to his inspiration. Again in 2014 he chose Dita as his muse and she closed his SS14 show, appearing in a butterfly costume with sensual suspenders and stockings.

Perfume, bondage and film wardrobes

What makes Gaultier so special? It’s not just his love of burlesque as an inspiration, nor his ability to subvert a theme that is, in itself, subversive, the Gaultier vision is one of complex and often playful strong female characters, notably in his wardrobe designs for Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover which brought Helen Mirren to prominence, and Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. Our Cecilia underbust corset is a fine example of the kind of design that Gaultier has made mainstream.

This appeal to strength, along with a keen eye for dramatic detail, is part of what gives Gaultier his evergreen design palette. The final facet of the Gaultier difference is his perennial focus on current events especially fetish, cartoons and music which feed into both his clothing and the perfumes for which he is equally well known.