Everything
Jean-Paul Gaultier’s decision to nominate a guest designer each couture season is becoming an increasing drawcard for the bi-annual Paris event. The idea of offering a momentary tenure to a modern wiz-kid builds a exciting energy – how will they choose to honour his legacy? Fourth up to the plate this season was Haider Ackermann. The Columbian-born Frenchman is known for his eponymous elegance-meets-androgyny label as well as his ability to occasionally break the internet via red halter neck ensembles on Timothée Chalamet.
In interviews leading up to tonight’s show, Ackermann made repeated reference to being humbled and flattered (and more than a little nervous) at being asked by the 70-year-old master to write the next chapter in the post-Jean-Paul Gaultier Jean-Paul Gaultier world. It’s an honour, of course, but not without pressure. Last season Olivier Rousteing delivered pieces heavy with archival reference and was thus criticised for offering too much homage, not enough new-era. No hard feelings, however, Rousteing was front row today, in rousing applause of Ackermann’s collection.
Also in the front row, flanking a beaming Jean-Paul, were Ackermann’s long term muses and friends, Chalamet and Tilda Swinton. Sitting at the receiving end of the runway, you couldn’t help but watch them throughout – checking their expressions like you would the proud parents of a kid on stage. However, Ackermann is no kid, no newcomer, and this collection, in all its design and technical prowess proved so.
A high society presentation of refined tactility and sensually smooth forms blended Gaultierisms in the most sensitive of ways. Fine, folded lapels and bustiers became Ackermann’s take on the conical Madonna corset of 1990, while decadent slouch-draped suiting became a very on-trend take on his ‘hyper-androgyny’ of the early 2000’s. This was Ackermann celebrating Gaultier’s most classic couture – tailored gowns, cigarette pants, sharp jackets with high-waist cummerbunds – with the only nod to his sailor-chic era a giant silver stole splashed with the word ‘Liberté’ – from Gaultier’s famed ‘Liberté, égalité, sexualité’ fragrance tagline.
Ackermann’s fine balancing of aesthetic meant we remained aware this was a tale of two designers throughout. His signature asymmetry and loose-pulled drapery somehow married harmoniously with Gaultier’s decade’s long catalogue of avant-garde. In particular, his use of an iridescent belle pointrine corset tucked, with rigid structure, into a pair of soft pleated trousers created a modern feminine fixture you could imagine Gaultier might have designed if her was still in the chair. These pieces were crafted with such expert tailoring they built character simply by the way they moved on the body – independent to the model’s walk. Character that created much of the nouveau drama of the night, allowing models to sway and gesture in a style reminiscent of catwalks of the eighties – when they commanded a kind of dance-y, posey performance.
Aside from all the graceful silhouettes (and there were many – spherically shouldered tops in rich purple, long gathered-silk sheaths in canary yellow, black backless coats with electric blue linings) Ackermann also provided a company of his brand of upmarket street. Although his own label has been on the back burner for a few seasons, the designer was most recently lauded for his collab with sport label Fila – a high-rave, high-energy range of stretch-and-windcheater wears. Today this zeitgeist was delivered via bronze-furred track sets, a dramatic trapeze science coat and blouson that billed cape hoods, cut-outs and raunchy drapery – all certainly and immediately dogeared by his front row muses.
Ackerman began work on this collection only four months ago, a quick tenure, but one that will surely leave the designer – and now all of us – wanting more. He seems to have invented a kind of wearable drama, a dichotomy perfect for his niche and its constituents. Unfortunately, and fortunately, it’s Gaultier’s process to spread the love when it comes to these new collections (apparently he leaves the result as a complete surprise – what sensational trust he must have in these designers) so next season we will be privy to another look entirely. So while this collection may remain a unicorn, we can only hope Ackermann might soon get back to his own, bringing with him a little bit of this Gaultier magic.