In . the . Details

When I've seen photos of couture collections before, I've always been moved by the beauty of the pieces - the fit, the movement, the color, the glamour - all stunning, all works of art.

Yet until I saw the Gaultier collections up close, "work of art" really just meant "very pretty." Without seeing close-ups, it's nearly impossible to appreciate how much work goes into making every.single.garment.






The dress above contained one of my favorite surprises. From even a few feet away, the dress looked as though it was crafted from fur. But no. The entire thing is beaded. All of it. Beaded. How long that would take even the more seasoned couturier, I can hardly imagine.






Another wonderful detail was on this pair of tights - someone had taken a regular pair of tights, and then cut out teeny leather pieces and then stitched them to the tights to make them look like real python skin. My eyes go wide just thinking about it.

Montreal . et . Jean . Paul . Gaultier

If my post on Tuesday was a bit lacking of photos, the number of photos that I took yesterday (429) will make up for it. On top of it being a lovely day to walk around the city, we took in the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts at night.

Plus, best surprise of all surprises - yesterday was the start of the Montreal Festival of Fashion and Design, which kicked off with... A Jean Paul Gaultier runway show!!

Getting to see the show meant standing in a very large, very cramped group of people for some time, but good gravy it was worth it. They walked pieces from the couture collections, as well as Fall 2011/12 menswear, and the Fall 2011/12 women's RTW line. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

I'll have to post photos in batches, so as not to go too crazy all at once though.

The top photos were from the first room of the exhibit. Many of the mannequins throughout had faces projected on them. All of the faces moved (a lot or a little) and some of the mannequins were also speaking or singing. Loved it.