Jean Paul Gaultier specializes in joyfully rejecting
conventional distinctions between masculine and feminine dress.
'Une garde-robe pour deux' (A wardrobe for two), a 1985 Gaultier
illustration, portrays a man and women in nearly identical
ensembles of wide-legged trousers, midriff-baring tops and
oversized jackets. In a play on expectations, Gaultier gives the
man a long pony-tail, while the women sports short hair.
Gaultier's most notorious experiments in gender-bending are his
skirts for men. First introduced in 1985, Gaultier played with
the idea of men in skirts through the 1990s. He offered a
variety of styles, including kilts, sarongs, tunics and long
maxi skirts. Gaultier's comment, "masculinity is not connected
to the clothes you're wearing--it's in the mind," offers a basis
for his belief in this sometimes controversial mode of
dressing.1 For Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition tour, Gaultier
designed a blue velvet cone bra to be worn by male back-up
dancers. This bra complemented Madonna's own outfit, a