Having fun with a pun sometimes leads Jean Paul Gaultier to supreme elegance—other times to mayhem. This season, he got carried away with the idea of Alexander Calder s mobile sculptures, a concept he worked into a frenzy of visual quips about strings and suspension.
Opening with a tableau of circus acrobats twirling in the air on rings, swings and ropes of cloth, Gaultier followed up with a kind of anarchic rock-star parade, riffing on his chosen theme. There were overalls with the bib hanging down from one strap, swimsuits in abstract shapes held together with strings, and—every woman s worst nightmare—pants and tights falling down to reveal underwear. Throw in some touches of Victoriana, a couple of Indian saris and a few men s shirts and jackets tied on backward, and the joke gets strung out too long.
Calder, on the other hand, had nothing to do with the designer s best pieces. Hang a medal on Gaultier for the belt-size pleated miniskirts worn over super-skinny pants and, most of all, for the East-meets-West kimono-sleeve silky sport jackets with embroidery on the back.
