it's on - gaultier vs idilvice...

This one's gonna be fun you know it. This should have been posted way sooner but it's been crazy lately. NY Fashion Week was on and with that the best parties in the world! Plus I've been busy designing new clothes and there was no time to write. As of late, I am additionally experiencing the corporate backlash of taking control of the internet. All sorts of companies trying to get a piece of IdilViceFashionRocks and all... I'll be talking about this a bit later. But now, on a slightly lighter note, I finally made it to put this one down. I planned it weeks ago, when I first saw the JPG men's show in Paris. Ironically both JPG and I were featured in the same TV program earlier this year.

I used to intern at Jean Paul Gaultier. Many years ago. I adore this man. Does he adore me? Yes he does. Look, it's a fact that designers cross each others ways frequently, in a mental way. Creatives think alike. And of course we are all inspired by what we see. We are also pressed to come up with smashing ideas at least twice a year, a pace that can be deadly, especially for creatives who usually need time to "listen" to themselves and "marinate" thoughts, before they can take shape. So with this incredible time line chasing us, it is no secret that we can't always be original and if it happens that ideas get translated, transformed and reissued it should not be taken personally. That of course is not always easy to do, as we know that there's usually more to it than just a simple mind cross when established high end designers - which we "intern" with - dish out concepts from independent ones such as myself. But again, it's a fact we've got to live with for the rest of our lives. Check out JPG fashion presentation for Fall 2010. A similar theme originally staged by me in 1997 - almost 13 years ago - in Zürich at Kaufleuten. The name of the show: Vice Troop Body Culture S/S 1997.

So you think you get the real deal all the time? You probably don't. Not always. The interpretation of Jean Paul's "Body Culture" - or "Coutorture" - was of course as always impeccable and so I can't stay critical any longer. One thing though: I look better in the bath robe ;-) what do you think?

IdilVice in her brand new velvetine French terry two-tone colored Troop Vice embroidered cropped and top stitched bathrobe shown in her fashion show presentation in Zurich in 1997, left. And Jean Paul Gaultier in an old lumpy no name bathrobe... not sure where he got it from...at his men's fashion presentation 2010 in Paris.

Well, whatever you might think, stay with me and let's look at some other parts of the shows and compare them, if you will.

Left: JPG men's fashion 2010 hoods with towel around the neck and on the right: IdilVice photo shoot with hoods and towel around the neck in boxing position 1997.

Tough IdilVice Troop Body Culture boys with embroidered belted French terry bathrobe coats and suede leather shorts, in 1997.

...tough JPG boys with coats and boxer shorts, 2010.

Left: IdilVice Body Culture trompe l'oeil printed woman's body suit, 1997 and right: JPG men's trompe l'oeil printed body suit, 2010. I must state here that JPG is one of the pioneers of trompe l'oeil.


Classic black & white elements such as stripes and plaid mixed in with sportswear at IdilVice 1997, left and right: JPG, 2010.


Left: baggy shorts and wrist bands at IdilVice 1997 and right: baggy shorts and wrist bands at JPG in 2010.


From head to toe in sporty white at IdilVice Body Culture 1997.


From head to toe in sporty white at JPG in 2010.


Plus we even both put our men in wrap skirts...


But only IdilVice put her man in a bikini top ;-) .....


... and only IdilVice had piercings in her body suits ;-)

Thanks goodness Jean Paul overlooked some details!