Jean Paul Gaultier is the subject of 'From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk', the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier.

The multimedia exhibition is organised around seven themes tracing the influences on Gaultier's development—from the streets of Paris to the cinema—since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s.

On display are approximately 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter ensembles, from the designer’s earliest to his most recent collections, many of which are displayed on custom mannequins with interactive faces created by high-definition audiovisual projections.

Accessories, sketches, stage costumes, excerpts from films, and documentation of runway shows, concerts, and dance performances, as well as photographs by fashion photographers and contemporary artists who stepped into Gaultier’s world, explore how his avant-garde designs challenge societal, gender, and aesthetic codes in unexpected ways.

Gaultier’s rich collaborations with renowned artists and photographers such as Miles Aldridge, Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, Pierre et Gilles, Herb Ritts, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol are also shown together with footage of catwalk presentations, concerts, music videos, films, dance performances and Gaultier's cult television show Eurotrash.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is organised by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier