Jean Paul Gaultier at the de Young Museum | San Francisco

Fashion becomes art at the de Young Museum's wonderfully theatrical Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition.

If you love fashion, make time for Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at San Francisco's de Young Museum.

I recently visited the exhibition and knew Gaultier's work would be fascinating, but I wasn't prepared for just how imaginative the exhibition itself would be.

With more than 100 haute couture and ready-to-wear designs, along with sketches, photography, film and video, there's an enormous amount to see. But what I loved most was the way the clothes were brought to life.

This isn't an exhibition where you simply walk past beautiful dresses in glass cases.

It feels like stepping into Gaultier's wonderfully eccentric world.

The Mannequins Come to Life

One of my favorite elements was the animated mannequins.

Faces are projected onto the mannequins so they appear to talk, sing and interact with you as you walk through the galleries.

They're playful, slightly surreal and completely unexpected.

It could easily have felt gimmicky, but instead it made the exhibition much more intriguing. You find yourself stopping not only to examine what each mannequin is wearing, but to see what it might do next.

A Runway in the Museum

Then there's the moving runway.

A procession of mannequins wearing some of Gaultier's most recognizable designs travels along a moving catwalk through the exhibition.

I loved this.

Fashion is meant to be seen in motion, and bringing a runway into the museum completely changes the energy of the space.

Boudoir

Of course, you can't talk about Jean Paul Gaultier without talking about corsets.

The Boudoir section explores one of his most recognizable signatures—the corset transformed from an undergarment into something meant to be seen.

Some pieces are glamorous. Others are provocative. All of them make you stop and look.

Don't miss: the famous Gaultier corsets.

Skin Deep

This was perhaps one of the more provocative sections.

Gaultier plays with the relationship between clothing and the body, sometimes making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.

The corset representing a skeleton was particularly extraordinary.

Beautiful? I'm not sure.

Fascinating? Absolutely.

Urban Jungle

This may have been my favorite section visually.

A spectacular beaded cheetah, exotic feathers, lace and incredible craftsmanship made these pieces feel almost like sculptures.

This is where you really appreciate that you're not simply looking at clothes.

You're looking at an extraordinary amount of workmanship.

Punk Cancan

And then Gaultier changes direction again.

Punk references, street style and traditional French influences are mixed together in ways that shouldn't necessarily work—and somehow do.

It's rebellious, humorous and very Gaultier.

The MBellished Takeaway

I went expecting a fashion exhibition and came away equally impressed by how the exhibition was presented.

The animated mannequins. The moving runway. The music. The theatricality.

Gaultier's clothes are certainly the stars, but the de Young has created an experience around them that makes you look at fashion differently.

And isn't that what a great exhibition should do?

Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk
de Young Museum, San Francisco
March 24–August 19, 2012

xo,
Malvika

Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk