Review: JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: FASHION FREAK SHOW, Southbank Centre

Straight from a clamorously successful run in the City of Lights (and capital of style), Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show arrives in London to celebrate fashion's most renowned enfant terrible. The two-hour-something raucous revue is hard to define and absolutely impossible to pigeonhole. It simply is a must-see.

Part comedy, part catwalk, part dance and movement piece, the show is extravagant, sexy, and very Jean Paul. Directed by the haute couturist himself, it retraces his career and inspiration beginning from his childhood, offering a life of colour and excess.

He paints garish tableaux that depict scenes out of his personal experiences: his grandmother's support, his first shocking catwalk, the death of his partner Francis due to AIDS-related issues (portrayed here with a touching and sensitive dance routine), and the achievement of worldwide fame are all presented in vivid form.

Also known for his unconventional models, Gaultier conveys his subversive nature with an array of artists, athletes, models, and acrobats that explode in a triumph of individuality. He makes peculiar use of bodies and nudity, intertwining them and moving them in a bash of sexiness and elegance.

Nakedness isn't exploited nor does shock here. It evens out the male and the female experience, making the two become one in their variety. There's, however, a specific kind of naughtiness to this project.

This element doesn't necessarily come from the subject matter nor it seems to be the goal, but from scenes in a sex club to the intimacy of the delivery, it certainly becomes a fil rouge that travels across the production along with the decisive style of his creations. After all, it's a piece of work devised by - and about - the rebel of French fashion and his alluring underworld.

Strong in its multi-media nature, the show sees choreographer Marion Motin and scenographer Eric Soyer collaborating to deliver his vision, all wrapped up in Nile Rodgers's musical arrangements. Gaultier makes fun of the industry as well as celebrate it in all its hypocrisy, weirdness, and competition.

He tackles the concept of beauty and he himself addresses the subjectivity of it in a video that precedes the grand finale. "Have fun, be free!" the provocateur says in the personal message, even perhaps circling a bigger critique to the same business he's been leaving his mark on since the start of his career. As one would expect, Fashion Freak Show ends spectacularly.

The performers walk in outlandish haute couture pieces that define the designer's style. Party culture, sex, inventiveness, and pure stylish excess come together in joyous fashion. In this heat, we thank our lucky stars that the Southbank Centre has air-con, because this show is hot.

Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show runs for a limited engagement at the Southbank Centre until 2 August.

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