An Amazing Orgy of Jaw-Dropping, Outrageous & Utterly Fascinating Haute Couture History: The Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show Reveals JPG’s Colourful Ascendency Into The High Fashion Stratesphere In All Its Glory!
In Time-Honoured Fashion Show Traditon, Style Concepts Straddle The Extremes of Clarity & Mystery. But Enigmatic Idiosyncracies, Vivacity, Voguing, Style, And Fashion Fancies Make It Super Fabulous Anyway!
Madonna, Models, A Man-Size Teddy Bear, Massive Music Tunes, Conical Bras, And Bare Breasts Combine To Make This Show Fashion Fantasical
We Salute Jean Paul Gaultier & His Natural French Flair
Jean Paul Gaultier Is A French World Renowned Haute Couture Fashion Designer, Who Daydreamed of Designing His Own Creations As A Schoolboy In Class. Now He’s A Youthful 70 And In A Class of His Own. He’s Taking His Latest Collection On A World Tour. It’s A Series of Catwalks, Dance Performances, Large Screen Digital Projections, Video And Audio Presentations Telling His Phenomenal Lifestory!
And It Is Exceptional. It’s Loud, It’s Proud, And It Pulls No Punches. From Bare-Breasted Ladies To The Famous Cone Shaped-Bra Famously Designed For Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition Tour In (Chiba) Japan, To A Huge Dancing Teddy Bear In Bra And Knickers (Representing The Designer’s Childhood Teddy Called ‘Nana’, And Some of The World’s Most Jaw-Droppingly Bold And Bendy Dancers, It Is A Spectacle To Behold.
Most Impressively In Amongst All The Sartorial Shock, Scandal And Drama, He Manages To Convey The Message of Safe Sex As The Audience Were Gifted Free Condoms In The Middle of The Performance, As They Were Playfully Yet Poignantly Handed Out By Members of The Cast. Performers Briefly Came Down From The Stage And Walked Amongst The Audience And Passed Out The Rainbow Packaged Pasante Prophylactics (Pasante.com).
This Section of The Show Was Poignant And So Well Done As The Playful Element Meant The Message Was Not Rammed Down The Audiences’ Throat As It Were And So It Was Well Received. (Although Some Audience Members Played It More Coy Than Others!) And The Poignant Authentic And Aching Element Was Because This Autobiograhpical Spectacular Includes A Dramatization of Gaultier Falling In Love As A Young A Man, The Aids Epidemic of The 80s And Early 90s, And The Loss of His Great Love (Francis Menuge) To Aids.
Music, Safe Sex & Model Behaviour Is Central To This Fashion Freak Show By JPG
It Was Very Moving How These Momentous Life Moments Were Managed With An Artful Balance of The Playful, The Romantic And The Tragic, As It Told The Story of Widespread Loss of Life During One of Histories Greatest Pandemics. The Terrance Higgins Trust @tht.org.uk Has Been At Forefront of Social Progress And Medical Advancement Ever Since. And The Practice of Safe Sex Has Been One of Its Most Prominent Messages.
But This Self-Monikered ‘Fashion Freak Show’ Is Deeply Dynamic And Just Keeps It Moving From Scene To Scene With Unstoppable Dynamism. There’s Pathos, There’s The Fashion Police And There Are Warnings About The Perils of Plastic Surgery. But Most of All There’s Bright Lights, Corsetry, Lingerie, Lithe Bodies, Models And Dancers, Fabulous Fabrics, Amazing Outfits And Stirring Music. All of Which Come Together To Tell The History of The Evergreen JPG Also Known As ‘Les Enfant Terrible’ (The Terrible Child) of Fashion. This Label Stuck After In 1980 He Presented His Spring-Summer Collection Called ‘James Bond’ Which Featured Males Models In Mini-Skirts And Leather Shorts.
Ten Years Previously In 1970 He Famously Got His First Fashion Break Aged Just 18, From French Fashion House Pierre Cardin To Whom He Wrote Professing His Passion And Showing His Sketches. It Was A Move That Worked Out Incredibly Well For Him. The Show Also Highlights How He Later Appealed For Funding From Elsewhere To Stage His First Show Unders His Own Name @jeanpaulgaultier
The Great Music Amped Up The Awesome
Jean Paul Gaultier Created A Number of Fabulous Fragrances, For Men And For Women, To Compliment His Haute Couture Fashion Designs, And They’ve Been Phenomenally Successful. And Magically With A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi Their Unique Scent Is Instantly Recognizable. He Is Famous For His Simple Yet Iconic Blue & White Striped T-Shirts & Tops. These Tops And Also Madonna’s Iconic Cone Bra Are Gaultier’s Most Famous Design Pieces And The Story of Both Designs Feature In The Show
This ‘Fashion Freak Show’ Biographical Extravaganza, Staged At Camden’s Iconic Roundhouse Was So Good It Left People Buzzing, Dancing And Vibing. And One Way To Hold Onto That Feeling Or Get A Taste of It Is To Strut Your Stuff To The Music From The Show & Lanquish In Some Fabulous Tunes. Including Classic Tracks From Nile Rogers & Chic, Grace Jones, Madonna, George Michael…And The Grenadier, Coldstream, Scottish, Irish & Welsh Guards!
The Double CD Album Is Available To Buy And On Spotify. The World Tour Was First Launched In 2018 And Has Been Re-modelled And Re-produced A Number of Times In Different Countries So Track Lists May Possibly Vary.
One Le Freak, By Chic; Two Te Deum Fanfare, By Maurice Andre & Jane Parker Smith; Three Rise Like A Phonenix, By Conchita Wurst; Four Light My Fire By Demi Mondaine; Five Ca C’est Paris, By Mistinguett; Six J’ai Deux Amours, By Josephine Baker (Pictured Below, Left); Seven Ta Fete, By Stromae Eight Small Town Boy, By Bronski Beat; Nine Generique Du Film, By Orchestre De La Societe De Concerts Du Conservatoire; Ten Comic Strip, By Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot; Eleven Les Playboys, By Jacques Dutronc; Twelve Move On Up By Curtis Mayfield; Thirteen I Want Your Love, By Chic; Fourteen Take A Walk On The Wild Side, By Demi Mondaine; Fiveteen Planet Claire, By The B-52s; Sixteen Ca Plane Pour Moi, By Plastic Bertrand; Seventeen God Save The Queen, By The Grenadier, Coldstream, Scottish, Irish & Welsh Guards; Eighteen Relax, By Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Nineteen Etienne, Etienne, By Anouk Viale.
One I Want Your Sex, By George Michael; Two I Need A Man, By Grace Jones; Three Fashion Pack (Studio 54), By Amanda Lear; Four Marcia Baila, By Rita Mitsouko; Five Nightclubbing, By Demi Mondaine; Six I’ve Got You Under My Skin, By Catherine Ringer; Seven Galop Infernal (French Can Can), By Jules Gressier; Eight How To Do Zat, By Jean Paul Gaultier; Nine Supermodel (You Better Work), By Ru Paul; Ten Vogue, By Madonna; Eleven Sapes Comme Jamais Pilule Bleue, By Maître Gims; Twelve Iguana, By Shirazee (Afrotrap UK Remix); Thirteen 100% VIP, By Phillipe Katerine; Fourteen It’s A Man’s World, By Demi Mondaine; Fiveteen Sweet Dreams Are Made of This (2018 Remaster), By The Eurythmics; Sixteen Toute Le Monde, By Zazie; Seventeen Good Times (2012 Collection Remastered), By Chic; Eighteen Spacer (7″ Edit), By Sheila Nineteen Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), By Marilyn Manson.
One of The Special Women JPG Has Loved In His Life & Who Naturally Feature In His Show Is Josephine Baker (Pictured Above, Left), A Former African-American Woman Born In St Louis, Missouri (1903) Who Became A French Citizen After Marrying French Industrialist Jean Lion In 1937.
She Was Known As The ‘Black Venus’ ‘Black Pearl’ ‘Creole Goddess’ & ‘Bronze Venus’. Her Iconic Stage Appearances With Her Slimline Athletic Muscular Body, Adorned With An Extremely Short Skirt Made of Ornate Bananas, An Opulante Necklace of Pearls, Feathers, Fabulous Shoes And Headdresses, Became Symbolic of The Jazz Age & The Roaring Twenties.
She Famously Headlined The Paris Opera House Come Caberet Music Hall The Folies Bergere. She Was The First Black Woman To Star In A Motion Picture, 1927’s Silent Movice Siren of The Tropics. And She Was Awarded The French Resistance Medal by The French Committee of National Liberation, Plus The Croix de Guerre By The French Military. And Named A Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur By General Former French President Charles de Gaulle.
We Can See Why Gaultier Was Drawn To Her. His World Tour Started In The Capital of His Compatriots Home Country, Specifically At The Folies Bergere, Paris, France, 2 October – 29 Decemer 2018. We Caught The Show On The Final Day of Its Second London Leg, On Sunday August 28 2022. It Was Staged At The Roundhouse For Six Weeks From Monday July 15. (Previously It Had Been Held At The South Bank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall In Summer 2019).
On The Last Night At The Roundhouse The Atmosphere Was Electric, Added To, No Doubt, By The Fact That Everybody Knew It Was The Last Night of The London Leg. The Applause Was Rapturous At The End of The Show And The Cast Loved It And The Audience Loved Them Loving It. It Was A Sartorial Mutual Appreciation Society As Patrons & Performers Said Goodbye At The End of A Truly Unique, Innovative And Magnifique Fashion Show Unlike Any Other.
The World Tour Continues. Why Not Strut Your Stuff And Go Have Some Fashion Fun And Catch It If You Can? www.jpgfashionfreakshow.com
Off The Rack (Pret-A-Porter) Looks Very Different In The Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show
French Comedian @Kody_Kim And kody-officiel.com Famous For Channeling The Late Designer Karl Lagerfeld Appeared As Head of The Fashion Police
Highlighted In This Official Trailer
Devon & Cornwall Based Digital Marketing Experts n9design.com Worked With JPG To Produce The Website For “The Theatre Story” of His Life
www.jpgfashionfreakshow.com
It’s Gaultier, But With An Element Of Evolution.
Some Very Old Designs, Some of Which Are More Recent, And Some That Are Completely New And Specially Created For The Show.
Fashion Touches A Lot of Things. It’s Everywhere,
You Can Speak With Your Clothes,
So Voilà!
Jean Paul Gaultier Speaking To Vogue Magazine, 2019 When His Fashion Freak Show First Came To London
There Is No Taboo For Me To Speak About AIDS. Yes, My Boyfriend Died From AIDS, But I Don’t Want People To Pity Me.
I Only Want To Show How It Happened.
In Fashion We Are Supposed To Be In Coherence With What’s Happening In Society And Around The World.
AIDS Has Affected Many People And Many People In Fashion Have Died From It.
For Me, I Wanted To Show Something That Conveys The Death of My Boyfriend And The Fact That You Also Have To Protect Yourself.
Jean Paul Gaultier Speaking To Vogue Magazine, 2019 When His Fashion Freak Show First Came To London
An Orgy of Pret-a-Porter Pleasure!
Fashion,Not Football, Nor Fighting, Was His Thing!
As Well As Madonna, Among His Clients Are The Likes of Grace Jones, Rhianna, Sarah Jessica Parker And Pamela Anderson. JPG Was Not In The House On The Night, But Long Time Fashionista Jonathan Ross @mewossy Was In The Audience And Wore A Long Gold Eye Catching Coat. And The Aptly Named @breerunway, Who Appeared On The Jonathan Ross Show Last Year And Who Wore A Jean Paul Gaultier Dress To The BRITs Earlier This Year, Was His Companion For The Evening.
One of The Great Elements of The Show Was The Diversity of The Models, Dancers, Presenters And Performers. Especially In Terms of Gender, Size, Race, And Age. And Unlike So Many Fashion Models They All Looked Happy And Healthy Instead of Painfully Skinny. That Was Particuarly Refreshing. And Hopefully More Catwalks Will Follow The JPG Example In This Respect. Also Great Casting Was Comedian And Actor @Kody-Kim Acting As Head of The Fashion Police, Chosen For His Tone, Comic Timing And Repartee.
JPG Came From A Very Broadminded Family With Broadminded Parents (But At School He Was Bullied And Called A ‘Tom Girl’ As He Had No Interest In Fighting or Football). Aged Just 9 Years Old His Beloved Grandmother Introduced Him To Folies Bergere For The First Time. Fashion Was His Thing! And It Was His Ability To Draw Sketches At School That Saved Him.No Wonder Then He Loves Strong Women And The First Performance of The Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show World Tour Was At The World Famous Iconic French Venue @foliebergere_officiel
Cinema (Falbalas 1945), Video, Photography, Muses, Music And Dance Are Essential Elements of His Life And Work And The Show Reflects That. It Is Also Part of The ‘Beyond+Between’ Programme of Events, Workshops And Discussions Celebrating Nightlife And Pop Culture At The Roundhouse.org.ok From July 15 – August 28 2022.
I Felt By Pursuing A Career In Fashion I Could Be Accepted In Society With My Homosexual Singularity.
Feeling Different Myself I Was Attracted To EveryThing And Everyone That Was Different.
So Rather Than A Queer Manifesto, I Would Say That My Revue Is A Manifesto For Difference, The Right To Difference, The Beauty of Difference.
Fashion Designer, Creator, Writer, Costume Designer ~ Jean Paul Gaultier (Programme Souvenier)
He Gives Special Thanks To His Entire Team And Many People Involved In The Show’s Production Including His Aforementioned Mentor French Designer @PierreCardin, Fellow Frenchman & Former Eurotrash Co. Presenter Come Director, @AntoinedeCaunes, French Actress #Catherine Deneuve, French Comedian @Kody-Kim, Former Contestant of The French Edition of The Voice Talent Show Come Star of Stage & Screen @Demi Mondaine (Who Appears On The Soundtrack Album As Outlined Above), And of Course JPG Muse & Megastar of Music @Madonna.
We Were Looking With A Certain Anticipation To See Music Legend (And A Friend of Madonna’s) Nile Rodgers Within The Special Thank You Section Considering How Important The Music Is Throughout The Show. But We Didn’t See Him There. He Is Credited High Up Nonetheless On The Creative Team List As ‘Music Arranger & Orchestrator’ And Features ‘In The Official Trailer’ (Above) Working Directly With Jean Paul Gaultier.
We Spoke To Several People Both Before And After The Show And Everybody Seemed To Love It Having Been In A State of Great Anticipation. And That Includes An International Husband And Husband Couple (One of Whom Was A Teacher Called Yann). Two Friends Female Who Travelled All The Way From Sweden. Jonathan Ross In His Gold Coat, And His Companion For The Event, One of His Chat Show Former Guests, Breerunway, @mewossy & @breerunway Respectively, And A Fashion Conscious Female TFL Worker Helping With Maintainence Operations For The New Elizabeth Line Tube Station, With A Number of Her Friends, Including A Dancer & A Snazzy Dress Wearer, Who Met In A Covid ‘Stuck In London’ WhatsApp Group. And They All Loved It. As Did We. C’est Manifique!
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