Ensemble

Designer Jean Paul Gaultier French
1994
Not on view
President Eisenhower's famous idiom "the military-industrial complex" is the starting point of this Gaultier outfit. Olive-green and cargo pants suggest the military or paramilitary. But the military rigor is impugned by indefatigable graffiti. Graffiti--that paradigm for art historian Kirk Varnedoe of high art informed by low art--defaces the military appearance. A medium of defilement and of language--often slightly vulgar in this instance--sheathes the facade of the proper soldier. Given Gaultier's many ingenious permutations of sailors, his cognate transfiguration of the army man is hardly surprising.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ensemble
  • Designer: Jean Paul Gaultier (French, born 1952)
  • Date: 1994
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: cotton, ink
  • Credit Line: Gift of Richard Martin, 1994
  • Object Number: 1994.578.3a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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