On November 28, Benaki Museum’s historic neoclassical building on Koubari Street hosted a fashion show featuring creations by the philhellene and iconoclast of Modern French fashion, Jean Paul Gaultier. Referencing the Benaki Museum as a consistent source of inspiration for his collections influenced by Greece’s history and traditional costumes, the designer organised a fund-raising fashion show and an after-dinner as a honorary donation to the museum. Dressed in a special edition of his trademark marinière forming the Greek flag this time, the enfant terrible of French fashion seemed ecstatic to be showcasing a retrospective body of his work in his favourite museum, as he persistently stated for the Benaki. The event promised a lesson of Greek history as told by Gaultier, showcasing particular looks from Gaultier’s archive, highlighting his distinguished ability to transform Greek antiquity and tradition into couture. The words expressed by Gaultier about Greece in the Greek media were more than just flattering. From naming Greek icons such as Melina Mercouri and Nana Mouschouri as his muses, to claiming inspiration drawn from the traditional Foustanella (multi-pleated white skirts worn by evzones soldiers) for his radically established men’s skirts in 1985, Gaultier referenced largely Greece as an everlasting source of inspiration for his successful career. Although undoubtedly a philhellene with a generous heart, Gaultier’s overtly acclaimed strong connection with Greece seems to be missing outside the borders of the Greek media. In all the interviews for eminent international publications, books written about Gaultier, the Greek reference is nowhere to be found. Intriguingly, before and post the event, Gaultier’s social media platforms didn’t seem to even mention the fashion show held in Benaki, although for the designer himself, “it was a dream come true”. Gaultier's munificent love for the country has been proven countless of times throughout the years, as much as it did this special night at the Benaki. However, the designer's acclaimed "special bond" with Greece in conjunction with Greece missing from ‘Gaultier’s world’ when not reporting to the Greek media, seems nothing more than just an overtly strategic PR move of engaging with a specific target audience. Greek-flagged marinière, anyone?
Look 1 of the Gaultier for Benaki show, "Paris To Athens" from the Spring/Summer Couture 2006 Collection, Tribute to Greece
Look 6 of the Gaultier for Benaki show, from the Spring/Summer Ready-To-Wear 2006 Collection
Look 9 of the Gaultier for Benaki show, from the Fall/Winter Couture 2014 Collection
Gaultier wearing a felt skirt from Vytina which along with its corresponding waistcoat, constituted the official fustanella costume
The finale of the Gaultier for Benaki show
“The Benaki is one of the most beautiful museums in the world. When I discovered it for the first time in 2000, it inspired a whole collection of mine,” Gaultier expressed numerous of times when asked about his collaboration with the museum. Subsequent to exhibiting the “Paris to Athens” look at the Benaki, the first look of his Spring/Summer 2006 Haute Couture Tribute to Greece collection, Gaultier generously offered to host a fund raising event. Showcasing mainly pieces from the referent collection as a homage to the museum’s influence as well as with other creations highlighting Gaultier’s couture excellence, the designer wanted to help the museum in such tough financial times but also “enrich his soul”, as he stated. Paris to Athens, a genius haute couture reinterpretation of the greek fustanella, opened the way for more Grecian references in the 2006 catwalk of Gaultier as well as for the special night at the Benaki. With looks named after major Greek figures such as 'Aphrodite' and 'Sappho of Mytilene', while incorporating significant pieces from the Greek traditional costumes, the Tribute to Greece collection was Gaultier’s most immediate attempt to translate the country’s culture and heritage into couture. “I use and respect tradition, but try to find the new elements which will make it younger,” Gaultier stated in a prolonged interview with biographer Colin McDowell, denying allegations that named him a destroyer of the past. However, as Suzy Menkes expressed in her review of the 2006 Haute Couture collection inspired by the Benaki, the scatteredly placed shishas around the show space, as well as the repeated motive of harem pants on the catwalk, contradicted the essence of the show as a tribute to Greece as it seemed “more like a romp around the Mediterranean than a couture vision that had absorbed all Gaultier’s Grecian inspirations.”
Look 1 Fall/Winter 2006 Ready-To-Wear
Look 1 Spring/Summer Couture 2006
Even though the Ottoman Empire left a vast impact on Greek culture, which eventually integrated fully within Greece, one must always remember that Greece was under the Ottoman power for four hundred years; four hundred years of slavery and oppression. Therefore, the symbiosis of symbols such as Aristotelis with shishas in a show namely tributed to Greece seems ill-informed, if not bizarre. Known for transcending geographical borders and social norms around gender and sexuality through his translation of diverse elements that inspire him into couture, Gaultier has indeed a unique way of weaving in multiple cultures and traditions to his creative vision. The designer’s invitation to the Voyage, Voyage Fall/Winter 2010-2011 collection is a great example of Gaultier’s borderless fashion world.
Gaultier's invitation to the Voyage, Voyage Fall/Winter 2010-11 Ready-To-Wear Collection
“Gaultier thinks of society as a cocktail - mixed, stirred, spiced, varied, decompartmentalised. The product of a single melting pot, society no longer consists of groups indifferent to one another while living side by side. It is made up of individuals, and each of them tells the story of our diversity,” as Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine arts, expresses on Gaultier’s design approach of incorporating multiple traditions and cultures in his work. However, triumphing traits of another culture as a homage to Greece, as observed in the Spring/Summer 2006 Haute Couture collection, feels quite wrong from a Greek perspective. Discussing the collection with also Greek, Central Saint Martins fashion design graduate, Adonis Kozakidis, his reaction to the collection’s looks feels like a déjà vu of mine. “No, no, no,” Adonis keeps saying in a monotonous sharp manner while flipping through the looks of the collection. Sporadically, with the enthusiasm of “Eureka!", Adonis comments on the obvious Greek reference found either in a reinterpretation of the sigkouni (traditional unisex embroidered vest) or with the abstract reference to ancient Greek architecture through the pattern formed from open rib caged corsets. Still, the acclaimed tribute to Greece can be found in looks that can be counted on one hand.
For the special night at the Benaki, the designer showcased 72 creations. With the authentic traditional costumes framing the catwalk of the event, the curation of the looks shown seemed much more carefully chosen this time. This probably explains the retrospective nature of the event, showcasing a limited amount of clothes evidently influenced by Greece, and focusing more on archival creations praising Gaultier’s couture, generically. With tickets priced at 1000 euros each, Gaultier was able to raise the significant amount of 200,000 euros for the museum, while the enfant gâté of Greece was passionately applauding every time a look was sent down the runway.
The day after the event, the Greek media were flooded with photographs and articles about the spectacular night at the Benaki. An apotheosis of Gaultier’s philhellenism and generosity. With statements of Gaultier triumphing on Melina Mercouri in the movie “Never on Sunday” as a big inspiration for his iconic marinière, to highlighting the fustanella as a vital source of inspiration for his men's skirts, Gaultier's words seemed to become bigger by the second. However, on Gaultier’s online platforms not even a mention of the event could be found. As if this night never happened. As if Greece was nothing more than just another ephemeral traditional element incorporated in Gaultier's couture. The men’s skirts were once again attributed to the Scottish kilt, while his muses remained strictly international stars such as Madonna and Amy Winehouse.
Enfant terrible is defined as a person who behaves in an unconventional or controversial way. Surely, it is no coincidence that Gaultier has earned this title for himself.