This Charmant Man
The regular audience of Queerguru will know the fashion roots of our Editor in Chief, London design icon Roger Walker-Dack. They will also be aware that I am considered a ‘diversity hire’ at your favorite media, style, and entertainment conglomerate, having famously lived fashion-free for fifty years. Today our exasperated yet optimistic Editor tried one more attempt to get me interested in labels other than Easy Care Comfort Fit. The Queerguru staff limousine arrived at 10 am this Monday morning with a handwritten and elegantly fragranced note from Roger ‘You are off to meet Jean-Paul Gaultier. Hopefully he will rub off on you. Wear black’
Black turned out to be a safe bet as Jean-Paul arrived in similarly understated garb for the relaunch of the covid delayed tour of his Fashion Freak Show. It’s been wowing audiences around the world with its mix of autobiography, music, and avant-garde fashion. Running for 52 shows from 15th July at Camden’s most atmospheric venue, the Roundhouse. It is part revue, part catwalk, and part artistic provocation. It puts the show in showcase.
Bound to be one of this summer’s hottest events we encourage you to reserve a ticket right now. Like Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty, Jean-Paul Gaultier has put together an experience that will attract way more than just the fashion crowd.
But what keeps Jean-Paul Gaultier motivated after all these years? The energy and passion for what he does still radiates from him. For him fashion ‘is like a facelift without the need for anesthetic’ , it is the essence of what keeps him fresh. London has also been a constant muse since his first visits in the 1970s when there was punk, disco and bien sur ‘great sex’.
The anecdotes from behind the show are what we really came for. And they don’t disappoint when told in that unapologetically charming Camembert thick accent. It turns out that Madonna was not the first person to wear the iconic conical bra. As a child, he created NaNo a ‘trans teddy bear’ who was the first gender-fluid model to rock the look. Let’s not tell Madonna she was sloppy seconds to a stuffed toy.
How to sum up this inventive, gaudy, and demanding show? It is a total rejection of the unambitious idea that ‘‘less is more’. A little bit like Jean-Paul himself.
JEAN-PAUL GAULTIER FASHION FREAK SHOW https://www.roundhouse.org.uk Run: 19 July - 28 August, Tuesday - Sunday at 7:30pm Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2:30pm
Review by ANDREW HEBDENQueerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.
