By Georgia Bistolaridis

With any mention of the name Jean Paul Gaultier, several of us consumed by the fashion and entertainment world may flashback to glimpses of Madonna’s cone-like bra, which he designed for her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour, the flavor and frill of his controversial, fantasy-like designs, and the flamboyant, platinum-haired spectacle that is Gaultier himself. For those of us who don’t often peruse the magazines and televised fashion shows, we are typically at least familiar with his Classique fragrances, those notoriously graphic figures of bodies that encase aromas as distinct as he and which we can conveniently find at most major fragrance counters for men and women. His designs have been characterized as frivolous, flamboyant, and totally avante garde. It’s interesting then, that the man long-labeled “l’enfant terrible,” a nickname that echoes the rebellious individualism in his designs and behavior, has just taken over as the chief designer for the house of Hermes, a fashion empire that we associate with timeless scarves, beautiful Birkins and Kellys, and all that is traditionally chic.

Yet while our Gaultier remains the “terrible child” of the fashion world at 51, his cutting-edge fashions and techniques have more than paid off; his risqué fragrance bottles account for well over half of his revenues, he was instrumental in the costume-making of the film The Fifth Element (among others), and best of all, is said to be the first designer under a pensioned age to have launched himself successfully into haute couture and that which has made him lovable to fashionistas and artists alike. Perhaps Hermes sensed a magnitude in the possibilities of Gaultier when the company paid $23 million for a 35 percent stake in Gaultier’s label in 1999, keeping this certain relationship between fashion empire and fashion being exceptional enough that when Hermes’ former chief designer, Martin Margiela’s, contract recently expired, Gaultier was offered, and took his position.

Gaultier’s first collection for fall-winter 2004 was presented in March and was also incidentally his first collection for a label other than his own. In this, Gaultier presented equilibrium; the ostentatious in his designs met with and, interestingly enough, bonded with the traditional and solid reputation that is Hermes. In fact, Gaultier, through his collection of “jodhpur” skirts, navy pea coats, tweed trousers, fringed scarves and altogether warm colors, went back in time to honor the company that, founded in 1837, began in Paris by making harnesses and saddles. Gaultier’s addition of tall, brown leather boots gave his models the image of being quite close to Hermes’ original harnesses and saddles as a luxury of the 21 st century instead of the necessity they were in the 19 th century and thereby making us want to dress in riding habits as a change from the very modern.

And while many of us may feel that Gaultier’s entrance into a very traditional fashion empire will breathe a new life and color to Hermes, Gaultier’s “terrible infant” reputation may also be challenged in this marriage of innovation and tradition that he has perfected. Perhaps we’ll eventually see an increasing change in Gaultier’s personal label, one impacted by the same force that told him to soothe the noise of his typically bold merchandise for a house of tradition and luxury. Or maybe we’ll get the best of both worlds, seriously imagining ourselves in Hermes and simply fantasizing about ourselves in the brazen and avant garde quality of the original Gaultier. Either way, Gaultier has just further impressed his audiences with his mastery of that perfect equilibrium which makes all in the fashion world quite good.

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