Jean-Paul Gaultier at Lacoste

American university the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is celebrating the work of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier with its latest exhibition at SCAD Lacoste in Provence…

Film meets fashion at the Savannah College of Art and Design where CinéMode par Jean Paul Gaultier is being exhibited at SCAD FASH Lacoste museum, located at the university’s residential study abroad location in the heart of Provence. Curated under the artistic direction of iconoclastic couturier and cinephile Jean Paul Gaultier, in collaboration with La Cinémathèque française and La Caixa Foundation, CinéMode, which opened on May 1, spotlights cinematic glamour through the lens of Gaultier’s personal inspirations and imagination.

SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace said: “Where else but SCAD do the scions of couture curate their own museum exhibitions? Sartorialists and cinephiles the world over will be enchanted by Jean Paul Gaultier’s CinéMode at SCAD FASH Lacoste where JPG brilliantly explores the marriage of Hollywood glamour and French couture through icons like Marlene Dietrich, Catherine Deneuve, and Brigitte Bardot. Film meets fashion now and forever at SCAD Lacoste. Step into sumptuous, cinematic luxury in the Luberon!” In CinéMode, Gaultier’s passion for design and lifelong love of film commingle in an exclusive presentation for SCAD FASH Lacoste. Legendary haute couture and costumes are featured in thematic vignettes representing transformative masculine and feminine archetypes – and their transgressions from Marlene Dietrich – to Donyale Luna, paired with Gaultier’s own cinematic collaborations for films by directors such as Pedro Almodóvar.

Icon of fashion

Gaultier is lauded as one of the greatest couturiers in the world and an icon of French fashion. Affectionately known as the enfant terrible of the fashion world, he is celebrated for his rebellious and provocative collections.

“I owe my vocation to the cinema,” said Gaultier. “I would never have become a couturier if I had not seen Jacques Becker’s Falbalas. Filmed in the 1940s, during the last year of World War II, it is the story of a couturier and his muse. When I saw it with my grandmother on TV, we both cried at the end – and I instantly knew what I wanted to become as there was a fashion show in the film. Cinema has been a constant source of inspiration for my collections. I have been fortunate to work in the cinema with directors I admire: Peter Greenaway, Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Luc Besson, and Pedro Almodóvar.
“I am pleased that the exhibition CinéMode will be shown at SCAD Lacoste. I have had the pleasure to work with graduates of the university, and I started my career with Pierre Cardin who is inextricably linked with Lacoste.”

On the occasion of the exhibition opening, SCAD FASH Lacoste and SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace hosted a celebratory reception honouring the designer with representatives from La Cinémathèque française and special guests from around the Luberon region.

SCAD students studying in Lacoste from an array of top-ranked degree programs including film and television, fashion, art history, illustration, and interior design will have the exclusive opportunity to connect with Jean Paul Gaultier and La Cinémathèque française collaborators through a series of special engagements and programming.

The exhibition is at SCAD FASH Lacoste until September 30, 2024.

Studying at Lacoste

SCAD Lacoste is a residential study-abroad location in France, offering immersion in the history and culture of Provence. Course offerings each quarter are varied to apply to all SCAD areas of study and are taught by SCAD professors. Lacoste is a beautifully preserved medieval village and historic destination for artists, known for its extraordinary light and exquisite pastoral setting. College buildings date from the ninth to the 19th centuries while featuring cutting- edge contemporary amenities.

The excellent resources include a library. a gallery, a dining hall and housing, as well as teaching studios dedicated to painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography and digital imaging. Students are able to interact with visiting artists, take field trips to museums and historic sites in the area, and have an opportunity to exhibit their work at a local vernissage.

Celebrated artists and designers visit throughout the year. Notable guests have included actor Jeremy Irons; artist and illustrator Ruben Toledo; actor and designer John Malkovich; designer Bibhu Mohapatra; interior designer and television host Genevieve Gorder; installation artist Hugo Dalton; design legend Ilse Crawford; Vogue contributing editor Lynn Yaeger; and CFDA Fashion Award-winning designers Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind.

SCAD is a private, non-profit, accredited university, offering 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrols more than 17,500 students from more than 100 countries. The future-minded curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university’s renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fibre of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2023 study found that 99% of SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.

About Jean-Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier began his career with Pierre Cardin in 1970 at age 18. After tenures at Esterel, Patou, and again with Cardin, Gaultier founded his own fashion house and staged his first show in Paris in 1976. Critical and commercial success quickly followed, and by the early 1980s he had become one of the hottest young designers. From the very beginning, Gaultier sought to express the multifaceted nature of beauty that could be found in the least expected places, a philosophy embodied in the lowly tin can, a recurrent symbol that gained the designer notoriety as the packaging for his hugely successful perfume. Gaultier launched his menswear line in 1984 with the collection ‘Male Object’ and in 1997 he realised his dream of designing haute couture with the collection ‘Gaultier Paris’. From 2004 to 2011, Gaultier designed the Hermès line of womenswear. It was in 2015 that he made the decision to solely pursue haute couture.

Throughout his design career, Gaultier has embraced dance, music, and film. His costumes for Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour left an indelible imprint on popular culture, while his instantly iconic cinematic collaborations include The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) by Peter Greenaway; The City of Lost Children (1995) by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet; The Fifth Element (1997) by Luc Besson; and Kika (1993), Bad Education (2004), and The Skin I Live In (2011) by Pedro Almodóvar.

At the Folies Bergère in Paris in 2018, Gaultier presented Fashion Freak Show, a theatrical revue of his life story and 50-year influence on pop culture through song, dance, and fashion. After a triumphant nine-month run, the show commenced an international tour. In 2020 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Gaultier presented his final haute couture collection with a major runway show featuring famous models, VIPs and friends of the house with performances by artists including Catherine Ringer and Boy George. The House of Gaultier continues his legacy, selecting a new guest designer each season to reinterpret the codes of his extraordinary creations.

For more information, visit scadfash.org

From France Today Magazine