Reject du jour: and the bride comes last
(Rejected cartoon: carolita johnson)
To honor the last day of fashion week, here’s another—rejected—fashion cartoon for you to throw rotten tomatoes at! Yes, it’s a bridal cartoon, but did you know that the bridal outfit has a special place in fashion shows? Nearly all fashion shows end with a bride or bride-equivalent. It’s a great honor to be the last one out, especially because it often means you get to kiss the designer while cameras flash and everyone applauds. So I suppose it’s the happiest day of a model’s life when Jean-Paul Gaultier chooses you for the finale.
Being the first one out is also an honor. You’re the first thing the audience sees, and your outfit often represents the inspiration or the show’s theme. You’re also quite soon forgotten, so most models prefer being last.
One day, however, I arrived backstage for what I knew was my very last Jean-Paul Gaultier runway show. I routinely checked out my rack and noticed that my first outfit had a polaroid snapshot (of how it should look once everything was in its proper place on my body) with the number “1” Sharpie-d onto it. I was thrilled! What a nice way to go out, I thought. The outfit was an Inuit-style suede pullover parka. I was all rouged up to look like a genuine red-cheeked Inuit, and they were spreading artificial snow on the runway when suddenly Bjork came sashaying around to my rack, wordlessly inspected my outfits, then sashayed away again.
Moments later, Jean-Paul came rushing up to me looking rather sheepish. He explained that Bjork had not liked her one outfit of the show (she was to do the cameo). So J-P, being the gracious man that he is, proposed that she have a look around everyone else’s racks and choose another outfit. Something about my outfit had caught her eye. (Could it have been the number “1”????). I, being a gracious model, surrendered my opening outfit to Bjork. (How do you like that, Bjork? I cried a sentimental tear of frustration on my last day as a runway model because of you!) But I got over it, realizing I was finally leaving the fickle world of runway fashion, and should be relieved.
I did years more of showroom work with Jean-Paul, which was rewarding in many other ways. And this is all that’s left on the internet of that outfit on La Bjork.
