September 26, 2011 issue, completed August 14, 2012

Style Issue. I really enjoyed the read about Jean-Paul Gaultier, especially since I had the pleasure of seeing the amazing exhibition of his work that premiered at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts last summer. I think I spent a good five to seven minutes in front of the mannequins that they made “come alive” with projections, wondering whether they were real or not (or thinking some were fake, but perhaps one was real). It had been a long time since a museum exhibition had truly wowed me, but this one did. The immense crowd of people on the street to get in also heightened the sense of excitement, of the feeling that this was a happening. I remember wishing I had something striped but a little off that would pay homage to the artist without completely ripping off his clothes (which of course are beyond my means) – maybe a striped sailor shirt that was elongated into a dress, for example, or a top where the stripes were a little skewed, or something similar. In the end I didn’t have time to find anything like that, but by the end of that summer, I owned at least four striped items that would have been perfect. Anyway, the craftsmanship that was on display in the exhibition was phenomenal. It made me want to be able to buy couture just to be able to appreciate the hand-placed and sewn buttons that made up the hem of a pleated skirt, or the incredible detail that went into an evening gown. Wearing a gown like one of his, how could you help but feel that the ball is revolving around you?