- Title: RUSSIA: Jean Paul Gaultier staged his first ever show in Russia
- Date: 20th May 2010
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 14, 2010) (REUTERS) PANORAMIC VIEW FROM TOP TO BOTTOM OF SHOW HALL ENTRANCE OF KAZANSKY TRAIN STATION GAULTIER FASHION SHOW POSTER READING IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH "SWEET CHERRY FOREST. JEAN PAUL GAULTIER. REAL HAUTE COUTURE"
- Embargoed: 4th June 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Fashion
- Reuters ID: LVAEAI1T5TZ6BUOY0QS2SSMP2USF
- Story Text: Kazansky railway station in Moscow got inconvenient guests on Friday night, May 14.
Jean Paul Gaultier unveiled his collection for the first time in Russia staging a show in a waiting hall of the railway station designed by Alexei Shchusev, the Soviet architect who also designed Lenin's mausoleum.
Kazansky railway station, constructed in 1913-1940 in the Neo-Russian style still carries signs of the Soviet past, with pictures depicting life and achievements of the Soviet era with squadrons of planes flying over red flags and dirigibles on the ceiling.
At a news conference, Gaultier said it had been his dream to stage a show in a railway station.
The designer said he was glad to get a chance to use the Kazansky railway station hall as a stage for his fashion show. He said it was like an invitation to a journey adding that all his collection was a journey.
"I must say, for a long time I have had a dream to stage a fashion show in the restaurant at the Gare de Lyon in Paris because this train station is one of the most beautiful in the city," said Gaultier meaning the famous belle epoque Train Bleu restaurant at the Gare de Lyon. "But this dream didn't come true due to many reasons such as difficulties with the schedule, with the amount of people appropriate for the hall and so on. But now, quite unexpected, I see my dream at last come true in Moscow. That's why I'm inviting all of you to my fashion show [tomorrow] to start the journey together," he said.
When asked if he thought the world recession was over and whether he thought people should spend money on designer clothes, Gaultier said, the crisis was still apparent, but those interested in fashion would still buy designer items.
"I think that there [are] some people that are still interested and they need to have clothes. So I think that it goes, maybe we have to show them, to propose them something maybe which is adapted to the crisis but still it will be like that and people need clothes because you can say things through clothes, they can show some things through clothes, they can be protected by clothes, so we need clothes," said Gaultier to Reuters.
The entrance of the couturier's fashion show hall at Kazansky railway station on Friday night, May 14, was fenced and guarded by police and private security guards.
Celebrities, pop stars and artists, fashion designers and fashion critics, editors of fashion magazines and actors, well known successful businessmen and various ordinary guests representing the growing Russian middle-class came to see the thirty-minute show.
Russia is a mix of romanticism and madness, said Gaultier earlier and his collection seemed to be impressed with a mix of strict costumes, black-and-white dresses, lace and wicker dresses, fur coats and feathered high boots, some garments that look as though they were inspired by "Avatar" motives and Mexican-themed costumes.
Gaultier himself appeared at the end of the show accompanied by a wave of applause and shouts. He came out scattering cherries from a basket.
"Jean Paul Gaultier and his visit to Moscow is a big event because he is a fantastic artist. Everything he is doing complies very much with my own imagination. He is a very artistic person," said popular Russian singer Valeria. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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