The Tamesis
Editor’s note: As part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing effort to chronicle the history of fashion shows, we’re kicking off the year by adding new digital looks to the site. The Spring 1993 ready-to-wear collection was presented at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris on October 16, 1992.
In the world of rebels, what is tradition? Since Jean Paul Gaultier was so associated with counterculture in the ’90s, it’s difficult to parse the title of his spring 1993 show: Gaultier Classics Revisited. That said, we can isolate some material markers, starting with denim, the designer’s material of choice. Here he refined it into new versions of tapered bras and roomy cargo pants with low hips, high waists and deep cuffs, designs that seemed borrowed from hip-hop.
The Marine uniform that was part of Gaultier’s personal uniform was also revealed: Christy Turlington wore an embroidered gold mesh sundress paired with a striped short-sleeved dress, and Claudia Mason wore one underneath a pinstriped jacket. Deconstruction is another beloved JPG theme; near the start of the show, Eve Salvail wore a shirt-body dress with an inverted trousers hem. It’s paired with Dr. Martens and a tie, androgyny is another cornerstone. Elsewhere, Gaultier extended men’s and women’s trousers to the armpits. (He stuck with the empire silhouette for his fall 1993 Chic Rabbis show.)
Most incredible of all, he uses scissors to cut the woven material into strips, which he then braids, knots or crochets together. A good example of this is Look 27, a shirt dress with solid fabric sleeves and a bodice woven from shirting material, with a fringed hem.
In theory, there’s not much of a jump from fabric strips to hair strands. How else to explain the popularity of artificial hair clothing? then, chicago tribune suggesting the look was “obviously a spoof of what was happening elsewhere in fashion in the ’70s, maybe even a spoof of musicals.” hair.But the designer seemed to keep things at face value. “There’s nothing more pure and simple than a naked woman wearing only her hair,” Gaultier told us. Fashion.
