Beauty Archivist: The Reverent, Referential Catholicism of Jean Paul Gaultier S/S 2007
Make it stand out
A curtain opens onto a blue-lit stage where, bathed in biblical-looking spotlights, the model Milagros Schmoll descends a stairway onto the runway of Jean Paul Gaultier’s S/S 2007 Couture show. She wears a white suit in a gleaming sinuous satin fabric. The opulent minimalism of her look is made ethereal by a halo of stars on her head and an icy blue drape of colour across her lids and cheeks. The bulk of her hair is pinned at the nape of her neck leaving two thick strands flowing from a central parting in front of her shoulders, giving it the two-dimensional look of the early renaissance art period. The collection’s first six looks are all elegantly minimal with the beauty, and those halos, being the main clue as to the Catholic vision which is about to unfold. Erin O’Connor appears in a one-shoulder black gown, a haze of transparent black smoke across her lids, drifting to her cheeks. A matte coral red is pressed into just the centre of her lips and on one cheek an appliqué of three black tear drops.
The Met’s Andre Bolton said “Beauty has often been a bridge between believers and unbelievers” and whilst fashion does love to apply irreverence to the sacred, I think designers have long been inspired by Catholic iconography for the pure reason of its objective and overwhelming beauty as much as they have for the desire to toy with the taboo.
The looks start to intensify as the show progresses. The music changes to something vaguely ecclesiastical but with an electronic undercurrent, the hemlines drop into gowns in glowing Madonna blue, soft powder grey and faded pinks and nudes. Look 14 is Jessica Stam, one of the most iconic faces of this show. She appears as the first fully-realised version of what I see as a clear reference to the Virgen de la Macarena, the 17th century wooden image of the Virgin Mary in the Basilica de la Macarena, Seville. The sculpted image of La Macarena is certainly an incredibly striking beauty look, her skin is pearlescent and embellished with glass teardrops, her eyes and cheeks also feature the same soft draping as the models walking the show, although not aqua blue but in the same muted highly emotional reddish taupe worn by Jessica Stam. Stam’s dress is a pinkish diaphanous nude that blends seamlessly with her skin tone and is embroidered with rich brown lace work evocative of a shrine. Her halo crown is a bronze gold with a marabou trim. In a show with some slightly campy and arguably shallow Catholic aesthetic references, see the sequin bleeding heart appliqué in look 45, Stam’s feels purely reverential.
If Stam wears the most saintly version of this perfect beauty look then others are a redux, which reference both this Spanish version of highly decorative Catholicism, but also feel like they owe something to the eccentric excesses of the new romantics. Eugenia Mandzhieva’s eyes are sky blue and her tear drops glowing red. Some models’ cheeks feature stars instead of droplets. Madelaine Hjört emerges in a gown of yellow gold, a huge halo atop her head and her face also drenched in the metal. Golden powder on her lips and clinging in her brows. Dita Von Teese takes a turn with the look adapted to fit more with the burlesque look she is known for. The sharp and slightly under drawn red lips and black eyeliner recalling to her 1940s sensibility. The clothes also swing from goddess like richly embroidered tulle confections to a sequin black mini dress with the smocked fullness of a habit and a crucifix shaped cut out at the breast. There are moments of parody but never too lingering and you get the sense that whilst Gaultier undoubtedly loves toying with the potentially profane he also seems genuinely inspired by the rich beauty of this imagery.
“The use of religious iconography in fashion was and remains controversial, however I do feel that whilst provocative, the specificity of Gaultier’s references do make it feel less cynical.”
The bride is Eugenia Volodina, holding a branch of Lilies, perhaps in reference to Rossetti’s painting The Annunciation, which shows the Angel Gabriel presenting Mary with a lily branch, both figures dressed in flowing white with golden halos. Except Volodina’s white gown is accessorised with a porcelain bloodless complexion and pure red shadow blended from her brows to her cheekbones, a pressed red lip and a single scarlet star on one cheek.
The use of religious iconography in fashion was and remains controversial, however I do feel that whilst provocative, the specificity of Gaultier’s references do make it feel less cynical. Something approaching a real reverence of the beauty of Catholic imagery, specifically it seems, imagery of the Spanish Baroque. If this collection was more a hodgepodge of random “Catholic aesthetic tumblr vibes” I think there would be a clear cut case for criticism. Although maybe undermining this point is Gaultier’s typically tongue-in-cheek decision to switch the music to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” for the walk through.
Words: Grace Ellington