The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

Ines de la Fressange on the Gaultier catwalk. Photo: mydaily

Denim, sequins, camouflage, stripes -  The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition is like a more expensive version of my wardrobe. Currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum in New York (one of my favourite museums, in the world) and arriving at the Barbican Art Gallery, London in April 2014. Whether you're in the Big Apple or the Big Smoke, go and see this fabulous retrospective.

With his punk attitude and playful ideas, there's a reason why the 61-year-old designer is popular with fashion editors and showbiz types alike:

Kristin McMenamy photo: Paolo Roversi

SJP

Beyonce and JT.

Helen Mirren in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.

What I like about Gaultier  - apart from the fact that he's talented, fun and starred in Eurotrash - is that in an incredibly homogenous fashion world, he has always championed diversity. Race, size, age and gender have all been addressed in his collections and on his catwalks.  I love that on Planet JPG  larger figures are called Size Sexy, and that the designer has been working with the fabulous Farida Khelfa forever.

Gaultier and Khelfa at Brooklyn Museum. Photo: Zimbio

And that before he created Madonna's conical bra and Blonde Ambition wardrobe, he'd developed an early prototype for his teddy bear Nana:

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: from the sidewalk to the catwalk is on at the Brooklyn Museum until 23 Feb 2014 and then at the Barbican from 9 April - 25 August 2014.

Watch out for the scary holograms.