Bas Kosters ‘Cowabunga Jean Paul’
Jean Paul Gaultier showed his last ready-to-wear collection with a statement that the raging pace of fashion leaves too little time for true creativity. With Jean Paul creating 8 collections per year, that’s a statement I understand. However, he will keep on creating couture collections, pieces that take a lot of time and attention, but it’s unfortunate that those pieces are not for everybody. So can couture be perceived as slow fashion? And is slow fashion the way to handle the ever-growing consumerism in the fashion industry, which speeds up the pace ever more every season?
In the case of couture this won’t be the answer, simply because a lot of people can’t afford it. When I thought of slow, I thought of a turtle; so I drew a turtle for you wearing Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic sailor stripes, of which it is a shame that his striped iconic pieces will not be in store anymore. Best is to start saving because the prices for Gaultier vintage might go trough the roof. But there are some very upbeat turtles that, although they might not be as slow as the regular turtle, do not keep up with the high pace of fashion – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’ve been wearing the same thing for years, and they respect Jean Paul’s choice and say: Cowabunga Jean Paul!
