Friday, June 29, 2012

Jean Paul Gaultier - Take 2


In honor of the exhibit, I decided to wear my Shoes of Death.

Though I did see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit when Margy was here, there was a blogger meetup to see it and I couldn't resist another visit with some great local sewists.

Amy has already written up our gathering and wow, she got some great photos with a real camera. (I tend to use my iPhone for these things. The pics are good, but they are not Digital SLR good.)

Because this was my second time, and it's a huge exhibit, I decided to zoom right to the middle. This is when I started to overload last time and the second half of the exhibit includes my favorite rooms: the ethnic room, the punk room (with the "runway show"), and the movie room. This allowed me to absorb things I had missed last time around.


First up is this grey fleece jacket. It is probably the most wearable piece in the exhibit, at least for this sewist. There is black ribbing on the hem and pockets, and black trim all over it. The ribbing is probably on the wrists too, but they were obscured by enormous silver bracelets and long strands of (fake?) hair.


I lightened this picture to show the swing back and the pointed, embellished, hood.


I also lightened this picture to show a bit more of the hood.


We've moved on to the punk room. See that punk on the right wearing the tulle skirt and leather jacket? I thought the detailing on the tulle skirt was very cool. Though made from layers of cream tulle, it has denim detailing.


Just look at the closeup of the front of the skirt. It features black top-stitching, and a "hidden" button placket, just like the classic 5-button fly Levis. It even has metal rivets. In tulle.


It's hard to see, but I was trying to get a picture of the back of the skirt. You can just make out the denim-style back pocket, complete with top-stitching.

In the punk room there was also a runway with moving spotlights - I had to try and time my photos to the spot lights since the room was dark and we weren't allowed to take flash photos. My friend ReAnn had asked me what I had thought of the "button dress", but I had missed this one on my last visit, so I kept my eye out for it this time.


What is cool about this dress is that the stripes, all the cream detailing that you see, is achieved with buttons.



Another cool feature of this exhibit, is that for each piece in the exhibit, there is a plaque stating how many man hours were required to create the piece. The button dress required 65 hours.


The last room is the movie room. I really enjoyed watching the collaged video showing his costumes from all sorts of movies and TV shows. I watched that twice. ;)


I forget which movie this is from but I think either of my daughters could rock this piece. For prom, maybe? ;)

We ended up in the museum cafe, where we gabbed for about three hours! It was serious fun.


I just had to feature Vanessa and her son, Dominick. Vanessa knitted Dominick's pants, and sewed his incredibly cute jacket and hat. (That plaid is from FabricMart and I thought I had recognized it! In fact, I think I have some of it.) Isn't he precious? What a cutie patootie.


It was a bit difficult to get these pics because Dominick had some sartorial issues with Jean Paul Gaultier. Or maybe he was forced to leave the punk room before he'd finished taking notes. Or maybe he'd had enough of parental gabbing. ;)

I still haven't cooked, but I made an apple pie!


I used this recipe but I found it to be way too sweet. Oh well. Even a mediocre apple pie is better than no apple pie at all. (It wasn't for guests, so I didn't worry about making the crust pretty.)

27 comments:

  1. What a great post!! I love your Shoes of Death, and I think they would be perfect with the tulle skirt! I think I need a tulle skirt.

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  2. lol! Yes, Luz Clara, I think I need one too!

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  3. Thank you so much shams! I am totally envious of your access to art/culture/shopping :-) but will happily read about your adventures. I love the grey sweatshirt fleece jacket, and the button dress. Your shoes look so dangerous!

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    1. They are dangerous, Mary! They strike fear into everyone, including me, who is afraid I will graze my own ankles. :)

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  4. Jean-Paul would totally approve of your Shoes of Death, I'm sure ;-D

    So sorry I missed you this time around, but thank you for the recap - I missed a lot of the same pieces you showed; it really does take 2 visits!

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    1. You were missed, Jilly Be! Beth is so good about organizing events -- I'm sure there will be another. :)

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  5. Ah, I'm so envious you got to go back for a 2nd look. I, too, missed most of the 2nd half, due to over-stimulation.

    My SofD want to meet your SoD....

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  6. It was great fun and the perfect antidote to solitary sewing ! We will get together again soon.

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    1. Thanks so much for your efforts at organizing, Beth!!

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  7. Thank you for taking the time to share so much, I feel I have been there now myself. And those shoes- gives new meaning to the phrase killer shoes.

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  8. Cool shoes - my daughter just bought a matching purse this week.

    I guess it's true - West Coast Sewers do have more fun!

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    1. Wow, those spikes on my shoes are metal and they are kinda sharp. A purse like that would be even more dangerous!

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  9. Thank you so much for featuring those shots of the JPG exhibition. I found them massively and seriously inspiring! Especially that tulle/denim skirt... my brain is racing a million miles an hour.
    I am envious that you get to have all these fun meet-ups :)

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    1. Carolyn, I can't WAIT to see what you come up with!! Let me know if you need more pics. I just may go once more before the exhibit closes in August. ;)

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  10. You crazy girl! Not a shoe person. I beg to differ. I have seen some of the funkiest, over the top shoes on your blog. Love it. Oh how I wish I could see the exhibit. I'll just have to get the book and be satisfied :(

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  11. Apple pie on Tau Day? How perfect.
    http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-half-tau-day.html

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    1. Wow, I used to make pies for my kids on Pi Day. I didn't realize it was Tau Day. Happy coincidence!

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  12. It was great to see you again, Shams! I look forward to the next time...

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  13. It was great seeing you again! I must have missed that tulle skirt with the denim details -- so cool.

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    1. I missed it the first time I went, Jean. It was great to see you, too!

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  14. What an amazing exhibit. Interesting that they would mention the number of hours that each piece took to create. I often think that such "details" are overlooked. The perception is that a few hours at a sewing machine should result in something stunning, when in actual fact "stunning" takes time - lots and lots of time. ...and that's just for the execution - no-one knows how much time actually went into the thinking process that resulted in the design.

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    1. Irene, I LOVED that they included the number of hours for each garment. Some were in the hundreds of hours. I agree that non-sewers just don't get it.

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  15. IMHO, the Casually Elegant is the best thing I've seen you make, and I'm serious. It is REALLY flattering to your body. And I love your detailing, inside and out. Perfect for our bay area weather. Well done!

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