The first exhibition devoted to the designs of world-renowned French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier
will make its U.S. debut at the Dallas Museum of Art in November 2011.
Marking the first time that the DMA will present an exhibition dedicated to exploring the art of fashion,
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier:
From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk provides an unprecedented look at the designer dubbed fashion’s
“enfant terrible” from the time of his first runway shows in the 1970s
and who has become one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades.
Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier,
the exhibition premiered in Montreal on June 15, 2011, and will be on view
at the Dallas Museum of Art from November 2011, through February 2012,
before traveling to its final stop in the U.S. at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, in March 2012.
The exhibition will be on view at the Fundación Mapfre – Instituto de Cultura in Madrid, Spain,
and to Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and then travel to Arkitekturmuseet, Stockholm in June 2013.

The exhibition—organized along six different thematic sections tracing the influences,
from the streets of Paris to the world of science fiction, that have marked the couturier’s creative development,
“The Odyssey of Jean Paul Gaultier,” “The Boudoir,” “Skin Deep,” “Punk Cancan,” “Urban Jungle,” and “Metropolis”
features approximately 130 ensembles from the designer’s couture collections,
as well as from his prêt-à-porter line, along with their accessories.
Created between 1976 and 2010, the majority of these pieces have never been exhibited.
Sketches, stage costumes, and excerpts from films, runway shows, concerts, dance performances,
and televised interviews will all provide a look at the couturier’s world and
will explore how his avant-garde fashions challenged societal and aesthetic codes in unexpected,
and often humorous, ways. Fashion photography will also be a major focus of attention,
thanks to loans of, in many cases, never-before-seen prints from renowned contemporary photographers and artists.