Paris Fashion Week: Jean Paul Gaultier’s ‘modern’ take on the cone bra? Put it in the ‘90s

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Lingerie is taking over the runways this season, so it’s only natural that Jean Paul Gaultier would bring back the Madonna ‘Blonde Ambition’-era cone bra. (In London, young designer Louise Goldin had already brought it back for him.)

And during the finale, when the models each came out wearing a cone bra and underwear, they looked like an item that would be sexy and fun to wear. One could imagine Katy Perry (sitting front row), and a whole new generation of hot young things, falling under the cone bra spell -- especially if, say, Gaultier were able to score a lingerie license out of the whole deal. The problem was in the lead-up to that moment. Several designers this season have been recycling old ideas -- Baroque prints at Versace, black lace at Dolce & Gabbana -- but managing to make those ideas look fresh and relevant to today’s pop culture consumers.

Versace put her prints on micro-minis, and paired them with today’s extreme-looking platform shoes; Dolce & Gabbana threw a few of the bubble-skirted silhouettes that are everywhere to update their Sicilian widow look.

But Gaultier put his cone bras in the context of hip-hop streetwear, with models in baggy denim, chunky gold chains, Doc Marten boots and side ponytails, caps cocked to the side and ‘Jean Paul’ tattooed in Gothic lettering on their arms. The look was more 1990s-era street crew than sex pot. And right now, it’s all about the sex pot. The collection was dated, and not in a good way.

--Booth Moore

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