Goodbye to Gaultier: Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear S/S 2015 Paris Fashion Week

Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection took the form of a beauty pageant, a contest for the “Election de Miss Jean Paul Gaultier 2015.” The show was both a celebration and a farewell: held at Paris’ Le Grand Rex, this was Gaultier’s final foray into ready-to-wear collections.

Models belonged to categories including Miss Smoking and Miss Vintage, in the latter of which older women stepped out onto the catwalk accompanied by young, mischievous-looking male models. Real, palpable enjoyment emanated from Gaultier’s models, who sported accessories including mobile phones, cigarette holders and even an accordion.

Big smiles were standard attire—and in some cases, little else, as Spanish actress Rossy de Palma cheekily cast aside her trench coat to continue along the catwalk in lingerie. Marinière girls kicked their legs in micro-skirts, which looked positively prim compared to the underwear-bandana composition that came later. Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha was chosen as winner of the pageant, only to be toppled, theatrically, by Anna Cleveland of the Netherlands.

This being Gaultier’s final collection of its kind, the so-called “enfant terrible” of fashion—famous for ignoring and reshaping industry conventions as well as, of course, Madonna’s conical bra—paid homage to those who had helped him over the years. Model doppelgängers of fashion editors, including Suzy Menkes and Grace Coddington, took to the stage for the title Miss Rédactrice de Monde (Editor of the World).

Gaultier joined his models in a final confetti-strewn, tricolore-banner-waving dance, in a farewell to ready-to-wear that will see him dedicate more time to haute couture collections.