The name Gaultier is associated with corsetry and “the initial sketches of the dress started with a strong lacing idea; enclosing the corseted body, tightening it at the top, and opening the volume of the dress at the bottom. A lacing that unravels, falls, and intertwines,” house spokeswoman Maria Eugenia Perez Pinaud told Vogue. The silhouette, she said, is “modernized by adding volume; there are layers, combinations of several textiles, and transparencies with satin whalebones, a blocked knit base, and lace on top.”
The softness of the color and lace are contrasted by the solidity and sparkle of a Cartier diamond necklace and watch. “This is the most collaborative we’ve ever been,” says Chamberlain. “It’s nice to feel like you’re a part of what you’re wearing. And I know for a fact that when I put this dress on it’s going to feel like mine because Jared and I and the Jean Paul Gaultier team put our heads together to make it for me.”
The savoir faire that went into these custom looks is jaw-dropping. 40 hours alone went into pattern making; four seamstresses spent three about 600 hours to assemble these corseted dress with transparent supports and lace inlays. The main material is a Chantilly lace dyed brown. In contrast to the archival pattern which was “quite soft and floral,” the lace used for Chamberlain’s dresses, is “sharper,” says Perez Pinaud. It features ferns and “alludes to brambles, to an apocalyptic garden, in response to the Garden of Time” dress code. Underlying the aspect of uncontrollable nature, “a bramble climbs up the body, enveloping Chamberlain’s shoulder and neck.”