Gaultier’s avant-garde collection highlights freedom of the individual
The flamboyant designer comes up with looks that focus on freedom – the freedom to not wear a bra and the freedom to smoke
French fashion icon Jean-Paul Gaultier opened up a new front in the battle over bras on Wednesday with “Free the nipple” slogans in his Paris Haute Couture show.
The flamboyant designer showed his support for a Florida teenager who was made to cover her nipples in bandages at her high school for not wearing a bra under her sweatshirt.
Lizzy Martinez, 17, made headlines in April when she said teachers told her to wear a second shirt and put plasters on her nipples after they claimed other students had been distracted by her breasts.
Gaultier said it was “scandalous” that a girl should be treated that way, and used his collection to support her.
He said that if “men had the right to go barechested, why not women?”.
And to hammer home the point he had a bare-chested male and female model walk the catwalk, each wearing see-through police visors with the legend, “Free the nipple” in French and English.
“You can see the nipples and the jewellery but you can’t touch,” he said.
“I don’t say that you must bare your breasts. I am very much for corsets and bras, clearly I like them,” said the designer who came up with Madonna’s famous conical bustiers.
“But a woman should be allowed to not wear a bra under her T-shirt,” he added.