Kateryna Yushchnenko, wife of Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko attended Gaultiers's show. The pair met earlier this year when Gaultier went to Moscow to open a boutique there, taking advantage of the occasion to visit Saint Petersburg along with other cities in Russia and Ukraine. "We hit it off," said Kateryna Yushchenko. "And when he said he would do a collection about Ukraine, I knew I had to be there."
There were two totally different personalities from the music world attended the show - French accordion player Yvette Horner and pop diva Christina Aquilera.
Gaultier's collection for next winter is more than Slavic folklore. It's a great example of elegance and the fine art of couture. In this collection Jean Paul Gaultier elevated the already rich hippie look. During the show Jean Paul Gaultier displayed 39 outfits, some in warm furs and covered embroidered flowers reminiscent of traditional regional headscarves. The French designer described his new collection as "at the same time, romantic, happy and relaxed." With this collection he seemed to be celebrating the art of invention and re-invention.
Jean Paul Gaultier, 53, was born and brought up in the Paris suburbs. Gaultier has never received formal training as a designer, but he still managed to join the closed world of haute couture in 1997 and became a revolutionary in French fashion. In 1976 the designer made his first collection for women. Jean Paul Gaultier has a long history of breaking fashion conventions and since 1997 his collections have been bringing a modern meaning to haute couture in Paris.
Superstar Madonna commissioned Jean-Paul in 1990 to design for her Blonde Ambition tour, where he produced outfits including her trademark pointed basque and bra, a look he had previously shown on the catwalk. Jean Paul Gaultier also designed the wardrobe for many famous movies, including Luc Besson's The Fifth Element and Pedro Almodovar's Kika.
While some designers aim to bring high fashion to the everyday, Jean Paul Gaultier wants it to be a piece of art, fantasy and surrealism. It seems as though Jean Paul will always be slightly distanced from the mood of his contemporaries. Gaultier many times shocked the audience by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like old and fat women, pierced and heavy tattooed models. His clothes break down the barrier between beauty and ugliness, elegance and vulgarity. He also plays with traditional gender roles in his catwalk shows. These actions have brought him both criticism and enormous popularity.
