Gaultier Gets Big Retrospective, and You Can Shop His Originals

By Kenzie Bryant Oct 30, 2013, 2:46pm EDT

An original cone bra. Photo by Driely S.

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Jean-Paul Gaultier is remembered for many things, among them Madonna cone bras and culling inspiration from the graffitied streets and rough neighborhoods of cities like New York and Paris. But—crucially—he's not dead yet. For that reason, he settled for the Brooklyn Museum of Fine Arts to house his traveling retrospective The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which has been open since October 25. To paraphrase the designer, if he had to show in a museum—the stuffy home of things that are no longer living—it might as well be in the "cool" borough of Brooklyn. Also, his mannequins should probably talk and move, which they do thanks to custom interactive faces created by high-definition audiovisual projections. It's unsettling in the best kind of way.

Photo by Driely S.

The gigantic exhibit includes seven sections that span Gaultier's career and allows for close-ups with a tour piece just worn by Beyoncé in 2009 as well as the legendary cone corset, on lend from Madonna herself, that's tinged green from the pop star's sweat. Gross. Cool. Grool.

Photo by Driely S.

The full experience is worth a trip, if only to look very closely at the hand-beading, the haute couture detail, the variety of fabrics Gaultier worked with and the talking faces that occasionally break out in song. But if that's not a possibility, head to Farfetch today. The online retailer, which trades in international boutiques (and provided Racked with the opportunity to see the exhibit a second time), is serendipitously privy to 50 never-before-worn Gaultier pieces that span from his first go at menswear to the 1989 "Around the World in 168 Outfits" collection. They're up for grabs via London-based House of Liza. And bonus: Thanks to the detailed product descriptions for each piece, the "Anything Goes" sale is like its own mini-museum tour.

Photo by Driely S.

Find Farfetch's lookbook below, which includes pricing, and expect to drop about $400 to $4000 on the items. And tour the Gaultier exhibit in Brooklyn virtually thanks to this stellar 100-shot gallery from our sister site in NYC.