I've started to research into Jean Paul Gaultier's designs and his influences, he was extremely influenced by his grandmother Marie Garrabe. She was a mystic, a hypnotist, a fortune teller, a tarot card reader and she gave beauty advice and home perms. She used to encourage and indulge into his surrogate world that he had created, she also allowed him to watch what ever he wanted on television. This was another influence on Jean Paul, he used to watch programs that were forbidden to children which left a mark on his designs. His interest was in couture, which is basically the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing, which is hand made from expensive, high quality materials, usually for the more wealthy individual. He liked strong women and reflects this in some of his designs, adding armour to some pieces and making the designs quite bold and powerful. He also likes putting men in skirts and showing femininity in their clothes, which he balances with a strong masculinity. Jean Paul has been part of the costume design for a few films as well, including The Fifth Element.
Infamously known for the cone bra that he designed for Madonna for her 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour. The designs above are all very powerful and reflect upon his view on women.
Above are some of the sketches for the cone bra and for The Fifth Element.
I'll keep digging deeper into Jean Paul Gaultier's work and start to work up some influence maps that will help push the design of my metropolis. There's a lot of information to take in and a lot to think about it in terms of design, my first thoughts are that the world will have to be quite bold, express femininity in some form and show power. I feel as if it'll be rude to not include the cone bra in the design of the world as well, as it is one of his most well known designs, which made him an international icon.
Good to see stuff already Charlie :) And a very interesting designer for world design, cone bras included. Now get sketching!
ReplyDelete