PARIS — For the opening of his fall-winter 2010-2011 collection for Hermès, house designer Jean-Paul Gaultier crossed the English Channel yet once more, this time to raid a dandy’s wardrobe and adapt it for today’s chic Parisienne.
This penchant for British elegance began with his Wimbledon tennis-themed outfits, presented last year and now selling briskly in Hermès boutiques around the world. For the next season, loyal fans of the venerable fashion house can look forward to a winter wonderland of leather, leather, and more leather. Which is what the house is famous for and does best. Even the show’s invitation said it all: a luxe sheet of calfskin perforated with the “H” logo, giving off a whiff of a sexy scent as you open the envelope.
And, like last season, this show was at the Halle Freysinnet, a cavernous warehouse in a working-class neighborhood of Paris, overheated for the occasion as the city continues to suffer from a long spell of freezing temperatures. Guests, store buyers and the press were kept happy waiting out the 30-minute delay as waiters did constant rounds with trays of champagne. The atmosphere was relaxed; this was the last of the nine-day Paris Fashion Week, when 135 labels upstaged one another with their shows, as many as 15 in a single day.
Big Ben chimes ding-dong, lights go on to reveal a fog-shrouded white tunnel reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film. The sound system blasts the theme music from The Avengers, British television’s cult spy series from the 1960s. A figure emerges … it’s secret agent Emma Peel in a skintight black leather catsuit! She carries the three accessories that will henceforth be omnipresent in this collection: bowler hat, umbrella and, instead of a briefcase, the iconic Kelly bag, named after the late Grace Kelly. English actress Jane Birkin, in whose honor another bag is named, smiles from her front-row seat.
In the original series, agent Emma Peel was played by Diana Rigg, whose signature black leather jumpsuit justifiably catapulted her to fame. A 1998 remake had Uma Thurman in identical attire. For today’s ramp, the role goes to Lily Cole, supermodel-turned-actress, lately seen opposite Jude Law in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Of his creations, Gaultier says, “It’s very English, inspired by the city, banker’s clothes revamped for the women who work there.”
His other sartorial reference is James Bond’s wardrobe. “It’s a kind of Mrs. Bond — a Bond-ette,” he chirps. The wordplay’s significance is not lost on those familiar with the Hermès boutique’s location on London’s New Bond Street. And to hammer home the message, Duran Duran’s A View To A Kill was blaring loud and clear. Take note, these models are not your sexy Bond girls, but Mr. Bond himself, albeit in drag.
Indeed, Gaultier delights in gender-bending, constantly teasing us with the interplay of feminine and masculine elements, blurring the boundary between the two. A man’s classic three-piece suit is made to look feminine by adding shape, a taper here or there, and other almost imperceptible details, narrower lapels, more padded shoulders, trouser cuffs shortened or slightly gathered around the ankles. And worn with towering high heels. The tailoring is pure Savile Row style, at which the workshops of Hermès excel, a craft Gaultier himself acquired from his own background as far back as the mid-1970s when he was designing suits for Pierre Cardin in Manila. This is a marriage made in heaven — Hermès supplies the most supple skins, Gaultier the cleanest cut.
This collection’s strong equestrian identity drives home the point that Hermès was originally a saddle shop when it was founded in 1837. Today, its strongest selling point still lies in the quality and workmanship of its leather products. Pea coats and blazers, many of them with sable lapels or collars, are worn over slim pants or miniskirts, in the softest crocodile or calfskin. A leather tunic over a crisp white shirt and leather tie is easy to wear and will be a sure winner once it reaches the shops. A brown suede waistcoat is worn over a gray woolen jacket with matching slim gray pants. A sleeveless duffle coat looks particularly comfortable over a cashmere turtleneck sweater. In keeping with this season’s accent on the shoulder, leather and crocodile epaulettes often show up, a detail also seen at Balmain, Dries van Noten, and Burberry, among many others.
The softest cashmere overcoats, belted or not, again have mink lapels. There is also a stunning floor-length black double-breasted overcoat. A buttery sheepskin coat has its own matching Kelly bag trimmed in sheepskin. Waistcoats are in abundance, in cashmere, leather or crocodile, worn under an overcoat or over a jacket. Also well-liked are the long silk jersey gowns with what looks like a crocodile’s spine running the length of the middle. This is Gaultier par excellence. Billowing silk taffeta long dresses are tightened at the waist by extra-wide croc belts. The roomy mohair skirts, with matching top, both of them fringed, come with a bowler hat that faintly evokes the Bolivian Altiplano highlands.
The color palette is muted. The show began with a suite of leather clothing entirely in black, followed by another suite in gray and a final one in chocolate brown and beige. The sole interruption was an all-too-brief interlude when the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange was played as two models in bowler hats came out. Underneath their Bordeaux jackets, one wore a pleated orange knit miniskirt over Bordeaux stockings; the other had the reverse — Bordeaux skirt over orange legs. In the film, bad boy Malcolm McDowell perennially wears a bowler hat; hence the two-level visual and word pun.
The only print is leopard; you see these in pullovers, dresses, also as a lining for mackintoshes. Most important among accessories are the bowler hat or leather top hat, masculine brollies galore, and the Kelly bag in every possible animal skin, including a mini version of it worn dangling from the end of an umbrella — Gaultier again being playful here. The waistcoat is everywhere; there is even a backless version of it, long and belted, in croc or leather. Crocodile appears not only as bags, but as jackets, waistcoats, miniskirts, pants, mid-thigh boots, even umbrella handles and cases. Monocle necklaces a la Sherlock Holmes add a further touch of British elegance, while models also hold folded copies of The Times of London and even The New York Times.
For shoes, award-winning cobbler Pierre Hardy collaborated with Gaultier to create contemporary designs based on footwear worn by 19th-century English lords and cavaliers, even coachmen, transplanted on the catwalk as 13 to 14-centimeter-high platform boots and thigh-high cavalier boots in leather or crocodile.
Earlier in the week, Gaultier also presented his eponymous collection, featuring madcap creations from every ethnic culture you can possibly imagine, “even Europe,” he naughtily adds. Such wild expressions of his imagination have earned him the sobriquet enfant terrible de la mode. On the other end of the spectrum is his Hermès collection with its classic elegance focused on materials and tailoring. Since 2004, when Gaultier joined Hermès as artistic director, he has flawlessly executed these two opposing styles. Hermès today owns 35 percent of the Jean-Paul Gaultier brand.
After all 60 models have paraded his creations, a laughing Gaultier sums it up: “It’s the Hermès spirit, everything must be comfortable, warm and chic!” He takes a bow on the ramp, borrows Lily Cole’s brolly, runs back into the tunnel and disappears. To grab the Eurotrain to London for his next British inspiration?