You knew this was going to happen—did you somehow think you could make it through Paris Couture Fashion Week without the insane eccentric designs of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring Couture 2014 runway show? It’s the upper echelon of couture: those over-the-top designs you can only wear once and will likely find their way into a Smithsonian collection some 40-odd years into the future. But for now they’re brand new sparkly designs that make us both marvel and detest the artistry in fashion.
The first few designs hitting the runway were simple and could easily be mistaken for ready-to-wear, with an all-black palette and feminine silhouettes—but as the models walked and the butterfly motif progressed it was apparent this was meant to be a true Gaultier collection. Soft lepidopteron accents soon made way for a fully formed entomological exposition.
Gaultier’s reviews have been going downhill as of late—perhaps it’s the lack of excitement for the same, tired, over-the-top designs or maybe it’s the creativity of the pieces themselves, either way, we were pretty on the fence about this collection. We fail to see the ingenuity in literal interpretations of nature, and to be honest—we can't imagine anyone rocking that orange butterfly dress. Seriously even Gaga wouldn’t touch that with a 10-foot pole.
Some of the more subtle nuances in design were gorgeous, inspired, red-carpet-worthy—but were lost on the runway, surrounded by dresses that were practically sprouting wings and taking flight. Couture is where Gaultier shines, and while we can usually appreciate the beauty of his genius, this collection was not one of those times.
