Cyberpunk - An Experimental Projection of the Future and the Influence on Jean-Paul Gaultier
You have undoubtedly heard of the term “cyberpunk” in your life. Words like “dystopia,” “cyborg,” “science fiction,” and “postmodernism” have always been thrown around in the discussion of “cyberpunk.” Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, a category that mainly focuses on a dystopian future in which humans have combined forces with technology. The creation of cyborgs - or hybrid creatures that are simultaneously animal and machine - is one major concept within the cyberpunk culture. Frequently, cyberpunk is tightly connected to the depletion of our natural resources and deprivation of societal norms due to futuristic and ultramodern technological advancements like artificial intelligence and cybernetics. Cyberpunk specifically implicates a sense of rebellion against the previously-conformed rules, traditions, and ways of thinking: this sub-genre propels one into an unorthodox world where individuals are encouraged to rebel against normality. Cyberpunk acts as a shining mirror, held right in front of the conventional governmental structures and so forth, aiming to induce self-reflection and thus pinpointing the flaws of reality and existing societal structures. But where did the term come from?
The New Wave Movement, which occurred from the late 1950s to the 1970s, reconstructed the way literature was written by encouraging writers to engage in experimental writing styles. This movement heavily impacted the science fiction genre in the literary world, causing a massive shift from hard sci-fi to soft sci-fi, where deliberations and discussions about psychology, political science, and anthropology are preferred over physics, chemistry, and astronomy. This movement urged writers to take the risk of creating content that might not be scientifically accurate and exploring unique writing styles that have not yet been done. This provided fertile ground for ideas like cyborgs and cyberpunks to bud. In 1968, Phillip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” was published, becoming the first source that introduced the concept of “cyberpunk.” In the sci-fi novel, a post-apocalyptic world is left barely inhabitable due to radiation from global nuclear warfare. The health of both animals and humans is in a detrimental state, so the government encourages each emigrant who desires to venture outside of Earth to inhabit while accompanying them with an Android Servant. These Android Servants, however, desire to return home to Earth due to severe environmental conditions on the new planets. Following the main character Rick Deckard, the novel explores the major task of eliminating those android servants who were impersonating humans as a disguise to hopefully not be killed, or “retired,” by bounty hunters like Rick Deckard. The plot sounds familiar, right? Phillip K. Dick’s novel heavily influenced the 1982 film Blade Runner, which utilized the established foundation of the dystopian world to present the story of a bounty hunter on the big movie screen. The 2017 sequel remake, Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Ana de Armas, also reused many elements and motifs from Dick’s novel. The dystopian cybernetic society, fabricated in Dick’s literature, served as the main framework for different forms of art later on: filmmakers, novelists, photographers, and fashion designers all used Dick’s dystopian and cyberpunk as the scaffolding while projecting their own comprehensions of cyberpunk and futurism onto the main structure to create varying but related forms of art. Jean-Paul Gaultier is one of those revolutionary fashion designers that successfully incorporated Dick’s conceptualization of cyberpunk.
Born in Arcueil, France in 1952, Jean-Paul Gaultier is a son of a normal middle-class French family; his mom was a clerk, and his dad worked as an accountant in the suburbs of Paris. Having yet to receive any formal education in the world of fashion, Gaultier found himself working under numerous well-established designers like Pierre Cardin simply by sending his casual sketches, which revealed his unbelievable talent at the age of 17 and caught Cardin’s attention. After gaining much professional knowledge, he launched his own collection in 1976. Immediately after, fashion editors recognized his untameable talent in designing decadent yet delicate women’s haute couture wear, helping him establish his own label in 1982. Riding the wave of European punk fashion in the 1970s, Gaultier created a myriad of avant-garde pieces that emphasized the Do-It-Yourself spirit as a way to rebel against the emerging consumer culture and post-modernists way of perceiving the world. Gaining more credibility in the fashion world after designing tour costumes for Madonna in 1985, Gaultier became an illustrious haute couture designer that specializes in illustrations of rebellion against societal norms in his garment display. Jean-Paul Gaultier’s 1995 Fall/Winter Fashion Show, titled the “Horsewomen and Amazones of Modern Time,” epitomizes cyberpunk spirits, a rebellion against the ordinary and antiquity.
Taking place in Le Trianon Theater in Paris, Gaultier’s 1995 F/W Collection perfectly portrayed his fixed vision of the future. Heavily influenced by Luc Besson’s film The Fifth Element and the Mad Max series, the Collection featured countless cyberpunk elements that portrayed Gaultier’s own interpretation of the future dystopian world.
Three of the most iconic outfits all have futuristic details that are viewed as revolutionary during the 90s. Inspired by Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely, Gaultier utilized computer-generated fabric designs to create optical illusions that fully embody the figures of femininity. Gaultier took note of Vasarely’s use of different sizing of polka dots to create depth and shadows and utilized the technique to create the futuristic look. The lighter shades used on the thigh area and the abdominal area on both the dress version and the catsuit are used to highlight the features of these beautiful models; Gaultier also used different shades to create an illusion of a bikini on these Vasarely-inspired looks, giving it a rebellious look that projects the message: Gaultier creates his own rules of garment displaying. The playful utilization of colors all appear so harmonious with each other, so Gaultier decided to employ more-edgy makeup looks and sharper hairstyles to contradict the harmonious optical illusion. Graphic squares, consisting of either black or navy colors, are pained across the brows and eyelids, creating this futuristic approach that portrays Gaultier’s vision of the dystopian future. The ombre eyeshadow on each model on the runway ties all the futuristic elements together.
Another emblematic outfit sent down the runway was a computer chip-inspired outfit, featuring an armor-like vest, chip-shaped metal belt, and black satin maxi skirts. This combination of technology and the imagined dystopian world element is heavily influenced by the Mad Max series, which came out around the 1980s. Embellished with fur details around the edges of the armor vest, the look also featured metal-plated fronts that resemble the electric boards of the computer chips. This utilization of technology on the fashion runway is the result of the emerging technological advancements during the 90s; innovations such as individualized electronic devices and more advanced computers and laptops all played as huge inspirations for this 1995 F/W Collection. The cherry on top is the red geometric eyeshadow on the model, which not only helped to highlight her sharp facial structure and features but also accentuated the color red within the designs of the vest and the accessories. This look hinted at the Amazonian influence that Gaultier dived into, and it also serves as a revolutionary piece that ties both technology and dystopia together. Gaultier aimed to induce the sentiments of distress and unfamiliarity within the audience through sprinkles of technology-infused garments, which hit exactly the heart of the cyberpunk spirit. This outfit, specifically, also resonates with Phillip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” as it explores innovative concepts like “cyborgs,” which is a term coined by American anthropologist Donna Haraway. The duality of this computer-chip-inspired vest speaks on what Haraway believes to be the future of our society: our world is currently filled with cyborgs, or the combination of man and machines. This rebellious concept at the time of introduction resonates with Gaultier’s concept for the 1995 Collection as he explored dichotomies of human and non-human and how a fashion designer would interpret that concept. His dauntlessness to tackle such futuristic concepts while doing so in an unconventional and defiant manner is what makes him stand out as an Haute Couture Designer in the 90s and also the 21st century; this outfit from the 1995 Collection alone can be seen as the epitome of cyberpunk culture.
Last but not least, it is the all-black leather jacket and maxi skirt outfit that features gold metal accessories and elements of fur. The apocalyptic yet grungy look, again, reveals the inspiration taken from the Mad Max series that began in 1980. The full-on black leather look is referred to as “Mad Maxette,” said Gaultier himself, since it aims to bring the darker side of femininity out on the runway. Contrary to all the other haute couture designers in the 1990s, who mainly focused on light-colored fabrics and sequins, the edgier looks Gaultier presented rebels against the norm in the fashion industry. As compared to the original all-black leather costumes worn by the male actors in the 1980 Mad Max, Gaultier put a spin on the concept, creating apocalyptic and cybernetic couture dedicated to women and portraying femininity. One of his most essential missions during his designing career was to create garments that allowed women to feel their most confident - to feel their best. This unconventional approach at the time was also utilized in his model casting process, in which he included all shapes and sizes and colors on the runway; he had pregnant models who bravely presented their bellies out while trotting down the runway; he gave the platform for plus-size models to embrace every small detail of their beautiful body with well-tailored garments; he also provided a safe space for trans models to be able to portray their unique understanding of gender fluidity on the runway. Gaultier’s extremely inclusive approach recognized the importance to take Haute Couture Fashion down a notch: it is meant to be fun and freeing, so all of his runway shows were designed to be interactive and liberating. Gaultier rebelled against conformity and societal construct, deepening the cleavage between harmful binaries that were created to promote a limiting mindset. The binaries of men and women, the binaries of masculinity and femininity, and the binaries of humans and machines were all being examined through this Mad Max-inspired black leather set. This comprehensive attitude was undoubtedly ahead of its time, and Gaultier has set an amazing precedent for future designers that revolutionized high fashion runways. Gaultier’s avant-garde approach to not only his garments but also the performance overall illustrates him as a designer who is more than capable of the ordinary: he presents both the creativity and business acumen to conceptualize cyberpunk philosophies and portray them on fashion runways that are often deemed as high-class and inclusive. Those characteristics are rarely found in modern Haute Couture designers in a commercialized world.
Gaultier's 1995 Fall/Winter Collection blurs the line between humans and machines in the best way possible. Taking inspiration from the cinematic world, these iconic futuristic looks combined his inventive imagination of the future with advanced technology that helped produce the fabrics and prints of the garments. The projections of his own fantasies quickly transformed how people viewed fashion in the late 90s. The bold approaches of Jean-Paul Gaultier to portray cyberpunk resulted in such a breathtaking runway collection that not only enhanced one’s sentimentality towards the future and dystopia but also demonstrated his revolutionary talent in the designing sphere.
