Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show ★★★★
Brisbane Festival, South Bank Piazza, until September 15
It begins with a pack of dancing teddy bears and ends with its cast posing near-naked on a stairway to heaven. In between are more corsets, blue-striped tees and bondage masks than you’d think possible.
And before you ask, yes, that conical brassiere made famous by Madonna makes multiple appearances – stage-side ticket holders had better be careful they don’t lose an eye.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show tells the story of the designer’s career through spectacular dance and costumes.Credit: Mark Senior
This is Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show, created, directed, co-written and designed by French couture’s enfant terrible himself. A 2018 hit at iconic Paris venue the Folies Bergere, it has since played across Europe, Tokyo and now, Brisbane.
This lavish and fast-paced spectacle roughly follows the timeline of Gaultier’s career. It’s not a straight Gaultier biography any more than a custard croquembouche is the biography of a cow – but it’s every bit as spectacular, fluffy and delicious.
The show takes the form of a series of costumed dance sequences combined with pre-filmed footage starring some of JPG’s famous friends such as Catherine Deneuve and Rossy de Palma.
As a child Jean Paul Gaultier dreamed of a Folies Bergere show starring his teddy bear Nana – a dream that seems to have come true. Credit: Mark Senior
Iconic moments like the designer’s first day on the job at Pierre Cardin’s atelier at the age of 18, his first solo show in 1976, and the debut of his kilts inspired by London’s punk movement are recreated with verve and thrilling choreography by Marion Motin.
Among the non-stop eye candy is a routine that visualises Jean Paul’s romance with business partner Francis Menuge as pairs of dancers each joined by one garment – a wonderfully simple expression of amour-through-attire.
