About a month ago, my friend Melanie sent me this link, which is about feathers in the fashion industry. Apparently in the last year or so, feather prices have risen by 300-700%, and fishermen are having trouble obtaining feathers for their lures. The writer links the trend to the circus performance group El Circo, which started around 12 years ago and to whom the San Francisco Bay Guardian credits the creation of the post-apocalyptic fashion associated with Burning Man.
I was very amused, therefore, to see photos from Jean Paul Gaultier’s winter/fall 2011 collection today and the large number of feathers in evidence.
From the Washington Post:
PARIS — Jean Paul Gaultier was the fox in the proverbial hen-house, serving up a feather-filled and plumage-plastered fall-winter 2011-12 haute couture collection on Wednesday.
Every conceivable bird was there. Rooster, ostrich, swan, turkey and pheasant feathers peeked out from the hemlines of trench coats and fluttered out from beneath the necklines of bustiers and other Gaultier staples. And even when they weren’t visible from the outside, the feathers were there on the inside, stuffing the puffer jackets and A-line skirts made from down-filled duvets.
Some of my favorites:
The first dress is a bit different from what I normally like – more feathers, for one, but also brighter and with a busier mix of colors. I’ve been trying to brighten my personal style though, which has been pretty monochrome since I started college, where all the free t-shirts and the convenient BDUs were black. Additionally, I love the shape – the flaring reminds me of 50s dresses. The next two dresses are pretty classic me, I think, both in color (dark) and style. I’ve liked sleeveless garments ever since I played soccer in high school and sleeves were just one more thing to get in the way of smooth movement. The lack of sleeves emphasizes the model’s shoulders, making her look stronger, and the length really compliments her height. The third dress, on the French artist Mylene Farmer, is just gorgeous – I love the flaring shorter front and the bustle-like back. It’s almost like a reverse-colored wedding dress, which reminds me of when I told my mother around when I was 7 that I wanted to have a black wedding dress (she was pretty unhappy). I also just love how crazy the fourth design is – the Telegraph tells me that Jean Paul Gaultier was the first to propose dresses for men in the 1980s, and man, he’s still at it. I love the gradient on the feathers.