A chance meeting with French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier proves to be a career defining moment for a young and reluctant fashion writer
By Raul Dias
Every time I hear the name Jean Paul Gaultier, a string of fond memories takes me right back to that supremely rainy September day in 2007. Out for our monthly mother and son lunch, mum and I had cosily settled into our corner table at Hornby’s Pavilion at Mumbai’s ITC Grand Central Hotel tucking into our fish and chips. All this, as the cacophony of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations was reaching its zenith outside.
Barely a few weeks into my stint at a leading daily’s entertainment supplement as the fashion correspondent—a role I had reluctantly and almost grudgingly accepted after the ‘official’ fashion writer had put in her papers—I was still coming to terms with my new beat and all its accoutrements. I was so raw and jejune that it took a sharp nudge from mum for me to realise that the man seated diagonally opposite us, relishing his order of vegetable stew and appams all by himself, was someone important. “That’s the famous French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier!” mum whispered conspiratorially.
A quick call to my editor back at the office confirmed that JPG (as he’s known as in the fashion world) was indeed supposed to be on a very private and discreet visit to Mumbai. He was being hosted by a socialite turned jewellery designer who was trying her best to keep the media miles away from her famous guest. Next day’s front-page lead story would be mine, I was guaranteed, if I could deliver a short interview with JPG.
With my latent reporter’s instincts kicking into full gear, I launched my ‘attack’, literally ambushing the genial-looking man by thrusting my business card in front of his aquiline nose. “Ah, we share a name,” said JPG. “Not many know this, but my full name is Jean Paul Raoul Gaultier.” And just like that the constantly-smiling JPG acquiesced to an impromptu little interview that would go on to become the only one he ever gave on that particular trip of his to Mumbai.
Ever the lover of all things India, he told me that the Ganesh Chaturthi festival fascinated him. “I really wanted to see the colour and fervour for myself and I’m so glad to be here now. I have been fabric shopping like crazy here,” he said, adding that he was first touched by India’s beauty in the late 1970s which is when he first travelled here as a backpacker. “Whenever I think of doing something different, India is what inspires me to go ahead and play with my fantasies. The gypsies of Rajasthan are a great source of inspiration, so much so that my last collection had a male show-stopper draped in a shimmering sari.”
As a parting shot, he let me into another unknown little factoid about a creation of his that has gone down the annals of fashion history over the decades. “Madonna was not the first person for whom I had designed that bra,” he said, referring to the now-legendary conical bra corset that JPG made for the singer’s Blond Ambition Tour way back in 1990. “As a child I had created a paper model of the conical bra for my teddy bear who wore it for quite a number of years. It was only in 1983 that I made a conical bra for my collection that Madonna happened to see and asked if I could make one for her. So, you see, Madonna wasn’t my inspiration at all!”
(A differently edited and padded-up version of this article appeared in the 2nd February 2020 issue of the Hindustan Times, India newspaper's Weekend supplement, on page II. https://m.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/newsmaker-jean-paul-gaultier-enfant-terrible-of-fashion-steps-off-the-ramp/story-FMyau6Bymm7RP0rxDF4SfK.html)
By Raul Dias
Every time I hear the name Jean Paul Gaultier, a string of fond memories takes me right back to that supremely rainy September day in 2007. Out for our monthly mother and son lunch, mum and I had cosily settled into our corner table at Hornby’s Pavilion at Mumbai’s ITC Grand Central Hotel tucking into our fish and chips. All this, as the cacophony of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations was reaching its zenith outside.
Barely a few weeks into my stint at a leading daily’s entertainment supplement as the fashion correspondent—a role I had reluctantly and almost grudgingly accepted after the ‘official’ fashion writer had put in her papers—I was still coming to terms with my new beat and all its accoutrements. I was so raw and jejune that it took a sharp nudge from mum for me to realise that the man seated diagonally opposite us, relishing his order of vegetable stew and appams all by himself, was someone important. “That’s the famous French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier!” mum whispered conspiratorially.
A quick call to my editor back at the office confirmed that JPG (as he’s known as in the fashion world) was indeed supposed to be on a very private and discreet visit to Mumbai. He was being hosted by a socialite turned jewellery designer who was trying her best to keep the media miles away from her famous guest. Next day’s front-page lead story would be mine, I was guaranteed, if I could deliver a short interview with JPG.
With my latent reporter’s instincts kicking into full gear, I launched my ‘attack’, literally ambushing the genial-looking man by thrusting my business card in front of his aquiline nose. “Ah, we share a name,” said JPG. “Not many know this, but my full name is Jean Paul Raoul Gaultier.” And just like that the constantly-smiling JPG acquiesced to an impromptu little interview that would go on to become the only one he ever gave on that particular trip of his to Mumbai.
Ever the lover of all things India, he told me that the Ganesh Chaturthi festival fascinated him. “I really wanted to see the colour and fervour for myself and I’m so glad to be here now. I have been fabric shopping like crazy here,” he said, adding that he was first touched by India’s beauty in the late 1970s which is when he first travelled here as a backpacker. “Whenever I think of doing something different, India is what inspires me to go ahead and play with my fantasies. The gypsies of Rajasthan are a great source of inspiration, so much so that my last collection had a male show-stopper draped in a shimmering sari.”
As a parting shot, he let me into another unknown little factoid about a creation of his that has gone down the annals of fashion history over the decades. “Madonna was not the first person for whom I had designed that bra,” he said, referring to the now-legendary conical bra corset that JPG made for the singer’s Blond Ambition Tour way back in 1990. “As a child I had created a paper model of the conical bra for my teddy bear who wore it for quite a number of years. It was only in 1983 that I made a conical bra for my collection that Madonna happened to see and asked if I could make one for her. So, you see, Madonna wasn’t my inspiration at all!”
(A differently edited and padded-up version of this article appeared in the 2nd February 2020 issue of the Hindustan Times, India newspaper's Weekend supplement, on page II. https://m.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/newsmaker-jean-paul-gaultier-enfant-terrible-of-fashion-steps-off-the-ramp/story-FMyau6Bymm7RP0rxDF4SfK.html)
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