Jean-Paul Gaultier: Plus Size Haute Couture Fashion at Target

Plus Size Clothing Magazine: On Fashion & Haute Couture for the Full Figured Woman.

Jean-Paul Gaultier, the French born fashion icon who’s designed wardrobe for and partied with the likes of Madonna, is an international Fashion Week regular–even though his garments and accessories are anything but regular.

Remember the pointed gold, conical bustier Ms. Madonna was rocking? The world has Monsieur Gaultier to thank for it, and for the whimsical, bold gear in Madge’s Blond Ambition Tour, and beyond.

This month, Gaultier has joined forces with the Target brand to create his own signature collection, raising eyebrows in the fashion world yet again, with a different twist.

Though the retailer does carry it, Target is not quite renowned for its designer Plus Size Women’s Clothing. Their continued strides and partnerships with well-known fashion designers continues to up the ante in the fashion industry game.

Gaultier, known for his edgy, avant-garde, and self-proclaimed “Eurotrash” aesthetic, is following in the footsteps of other fashion media moguls such as Marc Jacobs in giving Target couture a whirl–or as many fat-shionistas might pronounce it–mustering up the best Accent Français they can–”Tar-jaay Couture.”

While it’s not being advertised as such, venturing through Gaultier’s collection online and in Target stores themselves, prominent sizes in the Jean-Paul Gaultier collection extend all the way up to X-Large, which Target and the Gaultier line deem to be sizes 16 to 18.

Just check your tags carefully, Darlings!

Gaultier said in a recent press release, “My collection with Target pays homage to the wide range of personalities that make up the diverse styles of American women. From ingénue to rock ‘n roll, this collection celebrates women of all ages and a host of distinctive, iconic American styles.”

Fashion, popular culture, and yes, even Target, are in constant dialogue with one another, ever-informing, shaping, and reinventing themselves in myriad ways across the catwalks and the aisles. Designers cull their inspiration from everywhere and everything, including normalcy and conventionality. Why not be transparent about this phenom? Fashion is all about art as it relates to commerce, and vice-versa.

Though Target’s the second largest discount retailer in the United States, its revenues ring soundly and ever true to the tune of nearly $65 billion. Fashion and retail merchandisers, designers, agencies, models, and publications still have yet to recover from the recession, much like the rest of the business world. Gaultier’s move is a wise one.

And like any art installation or haute couture show-and-tell, you’ve got to get it while the getting’s good. The U-turn in this road has to do with the affordability–high fashion’s “not supposed to be affordable.”

As any avid fashionista will tell you, Jean-Paul Gaultier is more known for “shock and chic.” However his Target collection, made to appeal to a more universal female consumer, is considerably toned down. Accessible, yet still quite lively. You’ll find splashes of colors and patterns that you’d think might clash. You’d be wrong.

The line’s unusual fabric textures and tones, and slight asymmetrical touches in the lookbook, give you just a touch of that over-the-top feel without necessarily taking you there. Depending on the garment look, feel, and cut, the atypical designs, at once playful and then seductive, can flatter the full-figured woman’s extra curves quite well, with just enough dashes of variety and spice.

Gaultier’s selections, which have rolled out around the same time as Target’s chain-wide in-store remodeling project (Target’s $1 billon effort officially launches in April), bring an influx of shoppers into stores who might not necessarily head to Target for clothes.

According to New York Magazine, Gaultier’s pieces are already selling out, dashing briskly toward an “out of stock” status both in stores and at Target.com.

So what are you waiting for, Curvy Divas? Go and get your Gaultier, and add a little kick to your full figured closet and Plus Size Fashion palette. The collection is only available until April 11.

Prices start in the $17 and change range, which is most definitely bringing haute couture down to earth. How fabulous is that?

While each item in the line is not necessarily one-of-a-kind, the reasonable prices would still allow for funky, fun accessories and alterations on your part, if you simply just have to say you’re wearing exclusive “Tar-jaay Gaultier.”

Plus Size Clothing Magazine Related Links:

Jean-Paul Gaultier at Target.com

Jean-Paul Gaultier Official Homepage

Plus Size Clothing Magazine Related Stories:

Bluegala Review – Plus Size Fashion and Couture