Jean Paul Gaultier & Dries Van Noten Fashion

It was a red carpet triumph for both Jean Paul Gaultier and Dries Van Noten last week at the Academy awards. Best Actress winner Marion Cotillard donned Jean Paul Gaultier’s mermaid gown while expecting mom Cate Blanchett looked resplendent and named as one of the best dressed for the evening in her embroidered floor-length purple gown by Dries Von Noten.

Yet, fashion is much more than just the red carpet for both Jean Paul Gaultier and Dries Van Noten whose Fall 2008 collections are very strong statements in style.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Inspired by the 1970 movie ‘Donkey Skin’, the story of a princess who was forced to hide her identity using animal skin, Jean Paul Gaultier sent out animal prints and skins on the runway, that perhaps brought back memories to Catherine Deneuve who starred in the movie and was sitting front row at the show.

Though PETA would not approve, the heavily fur-trimmed parkas and structured capes shown on the runway looked great and would find their way into a woman’s wardrobe. And though this statement might sound unpalatable to die hard Jean Paul Gaultier fans, this collection is actually one of the most economically viable that the French couturier had done in recent memory.

It’s not to say that there is no artistry, because there is plenty of that to go around. We are talking about Jean Paul Gaultier after all. The structured coat in tiger stripes prints perched on the shoulder of a black lace top paired with a structured pencil skirt in gold – the color combination would not have worked if done by someone less masterful than Gaultier.

Decisive in his vision, Gaultier pulled everything tight and coherent, thus making the whole collection gel.

Dries Van Noten

If ‘Donkey Skin’, which is actually part of French folklore, inspired Jean Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten combined traditions from two cultures, the Chinese and Peruvian, and made it the basis of his Fall 2008 collection.

The Chinese chino became straight-legged trousers in modern graphic prints of paisley or marble that were done in the psychedelic colors of the 1970s. Peruvian emblems were referenced on the coats trimmed with fur and also on the prints used on tops and dresses.

Speaking of fur, though Dries Van Noten used them sparingly, it is how he used fur that is remarkable. Unafraid to experiment, he would use two different pelts in a single garment, thus creating texture in a different level.