Dear Shaded Viewers,
Jean-Paul with his hot chocolate at les Deux Abeilles and his show and tell at the festival d’Hyeres
Yesterday Jean Paul was in Paris and we met for tea and cakes at my favorite neighborhood tea salon, les Deux Abeilles, JP showed me the images from his new look book. If you did not follow my Hyeres 23rd edition report, here is a recap: JP won the public and the 1,2,3 prize this year and ever since he has been solicited by pr’s, commercials and the press. He’s even been told that he reminds one seasoned fashion insider of a young Jean Paul Gaultier.
I asked JP who he was thinking about when he designed his collection: “There is this hysterical character I’m always thinking about. Like the person who’s got the freedom to wear what ever ‘s going on in their head, whenever they want to, wherever they want to.” The ‘teepee’ print dress is cut from a child’s tent, the volume is purposefully extravagant, the bracelets are made in the form of frites.
JP loves his country, Belgium, the land of the ‘pomme frite’. For this collection,
“Ich will nen Cowboy als Mann”, he imagined a colourful character called Jacqueline, who runs a well known ‘fritkot’, where her admirers come from a far to sample her crispy french fries. Jacqueline has two passions in life: the kitsch Danish singer Gitte and a deep fondness for Texas; in particular rodeo clowns-the men relied upon to distract the bull when the cowboy falls to the dust.
Her wardrobe is the epitome of her passions: Jean Paul Lespagnard combines the clown’s stripes, the cowboy’s trousers, and Texan shirts with a large serving of 100% Belgian fantasy. Behind the counter, Jacqueline is always ready for the day a man in cowboy boots will carry her away from this place.
Tonight he is giving a big party in Brussels to celebrate his Hyeres experience.
JP with the creative director of the festival d’Hyeres, Maida and JP with Jean Pierre Blanc, the founder and director of the festival and Thierry Dreyfus, Lighting maestro.
Jean Paul Lespagnard will be in Berlin from August to October making the costumes for a dance performance by Meg Stuart which will open the festival of Gratz, I’m looking forward to that.
Later,
Diane