Let crisis inspire haute couture, says Gaultier
PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - Fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier said on Wednesday tough times were triggers to think out of the box and that way haute couture will weather the world financial crisis.
"For thirty, forty years... one has been talking about the funerals of haute couture," he said, presenting his 2009/2010 winter collection inspired by 1930s and 1940s movie stars and attended by singer Kylie Minogue, actor Mickey Rourke and fellow French designer Sonia Rykiel.
"But the crisis is the time when one should create news ways of doing things.. find solutions... and put even the most basic things into question," said Gaultier, a central figure of the Paris fashion scene for more than two decades.
Reacting to last month's collapse of French fashion house Christian Lacroix, he said, "But Lacroix is a creator, he will do something creative again."
Lacroix, still hoping to find a buyer for his business, staged a small couture show this week stitched together by friends and dressmakers who worked for free.
French actress Josiane Balasko, sitting a few seats away from model and designer Ines de la Fressange, said haute couture was essential for the fashion industry.
"Haute couture is the speed boat that pulls the whole fashion world," Balasko told Reuters, adding she came to see Gaultier's shows as regularly as possible.
Look-alikes of Louise Brooks, Lauren Bacall and World War Two French actress Micheline Presle strutted down the stage in broad-shouldered black suits and aviator-style raincoats and dresses adorned with furs.
Gaultier, who designs women's wear for luxury group Hermes (HRMS.PA), used the same 1930's soft leather caps he showed this spring with his new Hermes collection. Hermes owns 45 percent of Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Gaultier remained faithful to his own classics such as the sailor-style trousers combined with a striped top and loosely fitting overalls -- this time in crocodile skin or gold lame, with fox pelts dangling over the shoulders.
"There will always be a clientele looking for a one-of-its-kind piece," said Suzanne Saperstein from Los Angeles, a major buyer of French couture. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
