Dress
The figure of a Hellenic statue wearing a draped cloth features both on the front as well as on the backside of this spring/summer 1996 dress by Jean Paul Gaultier. The figure alludes possibly to the Anadyomene, a type of Aphrodite whose naked torso rises up out of the draped folds of a cloth. The trompe l'oeil effect of superimposing a naked body onto a dressed body is both playful and sexually charged, two characteristics of Gaultier's quixotic and postmodern design idiom. Through his design, the living flesh becomes stone and the stone becomes cloth, yet the body underneath retains its freedom of movement.
Gaultier’s use of citations from past civilizations serves his Surrealist, absurd vision which upends questions of taste, gender and values. He stated: “I participate in the total confusion of all values.”
Gaultier’s use of citations from past civilizations serves his Surrealist, absurd vision which upends questions of taste, gender and values. He stated: “I participate in the total confusion of all values.”
Artwork Details
- Title: Dress
- Designer: Jean Paul Gaultier (French, born 1952)
- Date: spring/summer 1999
- Culture: French
- Medium: silk
- Credit Line: Gift of Estate of Jean Stein, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.690.4
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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