Jean Paul Gauthier Exhibit - Montreal

While in Montreal this weekend, we went to the Jean Paul Gauthier exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was STUNNING! I've always been obsessed with Fashion - and Jean Paul Gauthier. I remember seeing his runway collections in the pages of Vogue when I was just a little girl.

I loved learning that Jean Paul Gauthier was a self-taught couturier that boldly struck out on his own with only his imagination and talent behind him. Now he's the hallmark of modern Parisien fashion.

I was so inspired by his creativity, passion and exquisite attention to detail of these haute couture designs.  These are not mere clothes, they are truly pieces of art.

All the mannequins had facial images projected onto them. These women were part of the religious iconography installation and were singing choral music. Yes, it was creepy -- but totally cool too :)

The man in stripes himself - his facial image was projected onto the mannequin and he told us all about the show - en Francais of course!

Look at the details of the dress. Apparently Kylie Minogue wore this dress. The mannequins would blink and then follow you with their eyes -- or so I thought!

Yes this is a white leather sailor costume.

Stunning pant suit with a flowing train from the top.

Classic J-P-G! This dress was made like a sweater, then the skirt was feathers. The man's sweater is made out of mink fur!

The sailor contingent.

The catwalk! Moving mannequins featuring creations spanning Jean Paul Gauthier's career going around on a motorized catwalk.

Concept images from Madonna's Blond Ambition tour in the early 90s.

And the "i-CONE-ic" corset - Love Madonna!

Another corset with exaggerated boning detail and skirt.

Lacey man pants!

Feathery man corset!

These reminded me of Lady Gaga

Gorgeous looks for the catwalk - classic black dress!

Paris dress - so amazingly sparkly!

I love these chic black looks.

Lovely Tour Eiffel beaded detail on this nude net dress.

Ah-mazzz-ing!

Can-Can dress inspired by the Moulin Rouge!

Chic suit with attached hat. Eighties off-the-should pantsuit behind.

His modern take of the suit - Gaga-style = NO PANTS! Or the one behind with the jacket sewn over the bra top? Not sure how that one would go over in the office!

Gorgeous nylons with Eiffel tower details!

Reminds me of the Pearlies from Lambeth in London! Totally chic, and totally wearable!

Even the hose had a pearl button seams!

Definitely more punk - apparently Kurt Cobain wore the black shirt underneath in Nirvana's 1993 video for "Heart-shaped Box"

Big A's plaid doesn't fit in with these punk styles. We're totally from the burbs, eh?

Camo-glam chic.

This headdress was amazing - it's supposed to be a wedding dress!

Big A said, "Wow! It looks like he used a cheetah hide!" But...

...he didn't. This print is ALL HAND-BEADED! Apparently it took 1060 hours to complete. Just jaw-dropping! It's so realistic!

I've always wanted a hair-y top hat!

The Red Face dress!

Mongolian chic.

This dress is made out of film strips!

A chartreuse dress with a portable hair dryer attached!

Gorgeous sweater gown with a big white crinoline & matching fur hat!

Oh Lady Gaga!

So you can see that I adored this exhibit! I seriously felt like I was transported momentarily to Paris.

I was determined to buy a memento from the boutique, but everything was a little pricey. You could buy a stripey sailor t-shirt for $250. An umbrella was $200. Yup, so that's not in the budget! Luckily my trusty iPhone was able to catch some grainy images for me!