Editor’s Note: As part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows, we are closing 2025 by adding new digitized shows to the site. This fall 1991 ready-to-wear collection was presented in Paris on March 15, 1991 at the Cirque d’Hever.
In Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall 1991 presentation, more than 125 looks were shown over the course of about an hour. Gaudi blue velvet curtains were installed in the Cirque d’Hiver space, and models walked in a blue circus ring painted with yellow stars on a surface large enough for ice skating. As if that wasn’t enough, for the finale, Can Can dancers descend from both sides of the curtain, swinging their fruit skirts and kicking their legs high in the air. Plus cyst plus.
The equivalent of this accounting chaos was the clothing itself. Through this line Gaultier’s elements of the 1890s were to be transferred into the 1990s. The first model out was a dead ringer for either Yvette Gilbert or Jane Everle. Both were favorite subjects of the famous French art-de-siècle cabaret actor and painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The former sang, the latter danced.
Dressing, like acting, is a form of self-transformation. Throughout his career, Gaultier took this idea further than most, creating clothes that could be worn more than one way. Here, one of his main occupations was cutting rectangular or square patterns. Left loose, dropped the fabric and made a handkerchief hem. In the case of vital waisted jackets, the ends were folded and buttoned down the center of the back, creating an elegant volume.
Wild colored tights have taken on many forms. Pants often had side stripes on the inner and outer side seams, which created the illusion of tightness. The candy cane stripes and trim waistcoats were inspired by what weight lifters, barkers and ringmasters wore in old-time circuses.
Costumes such as skaters, ice skates, and skating indicated the winter theme, which was also emphasized by faux fur trim at the wrists, hem, or neck. There is a picture of Toulouse Lautrec wearing Everel’s feather bow that could have been on the mood board for the collection. Another contemporary reading brings to mind Karwala de Vil.
All themes also had an activeware look. Check out hooded anoraks and sleek leggings. Gaultier also added to his passionate Anglomania. The handprinted pieces on them read like Lascox-Meats-Viveen Westwood muddy nostalgia. A model in a toe-to-toe bodysuit appears to pay homage to Le Bourget.
According to contemporary reports, the show was delayed by an hour due to door crashers. Those who made it past the bouncers were greeted, Reuters wrote, by dancers, who “delivered sweets and bouquets of violets at the door, while a barroom singer belted out old French ballads.” For Gaultier, life has always been a cabaret.
