PEOPLE VS GAULTIER
Blonde Ambition Tour, 24/07/1990. Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
Most people were introduced to Jean Paul Gaultier in 1990 when Madonna put on a bra the likes of which no one had ever seen before. She stood on stage wearing a piece of clothing that everyone was familiar with, yet no one had ever seen. Jean Paul had taken the household garment and made it into a pièce de résistance. Suffice it to say, Madonna looked like a snack.
I’m of course talking about the cone bra that Madonna debuted during her Blonde Ambition Tour, four years before I was even born. But that risk in design and fashion created shockwaves, going on to appear in music videos, TV shows and even advertising that I saw all throughout my childhood. [4] Even today, the cone bra still makes appearances.
It should come as no surprise then, the fact that Jean Paul Gaultier and the cone bra they designed became the target of moral outrage, directed at them by religious groups, parents’ associations and politicians, who called the bra obscene and/or indecent. Having been debuted in the pre-TikTok era, the outrage may have taken a little longer to disseminate, but it was there all the same.
Today, we have Duran Lantink, who also debuted Gaultier the world had never seen. His collection was also received with a sour taste, in fact [5] he himself predicted he would be “slaughtered for it”. I don’t believe this is due to any kind of lack in confidence, if anything it’s the opposite, plus an understanding of both fashion history, and modern technology.
When JPG introduced the world to the cone bra, you either loved it or hated it. Regardless, it’s a garment that invited controversy from all corners, including The Vatican. The bra was so provocative it prompted then [1] Pope Jean Paul II to call for a boycott feeling that her show was satanic. My hometown’s finest, the [2] Toronto Police Service threatened Madonna with arrest, claiming her performance was in breach of local obscenity laws.
[3] Eventually, Madonna clapped back. She broke her show down into something less artistic and abstract for her critics when addressing the press at an airport in Rome. She compared her act to theatre, explaining that it isn’t like a conventional rock show. She went on to say that she did not mean to endorse a way of life but to describe it, leaving the audience to make its own decisions. She closed by saying every night before she goes up on stage, she prays, not only for a good show but that everyone coming to see her will have an open heart and an open mind.
With these reactions in mind, knowing that word would likely spread instantly, unlike in the age of the cone bra. It is natural for one to assume that people would react poorly, but then why unveil such a collection? A designer must truly believe what he is creating will last the test of time, that people will not appreciate it upon seeing it for the first time but over the long term they will come to understand the artistry in it. Otherwise what’s the point?
Being able to harness the magic of this new age is feat unto itself. Everyone being armed with what is essentially a magic wand enables so many possibilities. For someone to come along and tap into the attention span of the entire fashion community is not something to turn your nose up at. It’s a bet on oneself. I for one am going to be watching to see how it pays off.
SOURCES
[1] Skarda, Erin. “Blond Ambition World Tour | Nazis and Nudity: The Top 10 Madonna Controversies | TIME.com.” TIME.com, newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/16/nazis-and-nudity-the-top-10-madonna-controversies/slide/blond-ambition-world-tour.
[2] Hunt, El. “Sex. Religion. Death. Conical Bras. Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ And Blond Ambition Tour at 30.” NME, 14 June 2019, www.nme.com/features/sex-religion-death-conical-bras-madonnas-like-prayer-blond-ambition-tour-30-2463908.
[3] “Blond Ambition.” MadonnaTribe, 13 Apr. 2015, www.madonnatribe.com/madonnatribe/blond-ambition.
[4] Meier, Elle. “Julia Fox Goes Topless in Nothing but a Cone Bra and an Optical Illusion Pinstripe Skirt.” InStyle, InStyle, 16 Oct. 2025, www.instyle.com/julia-fox-cone-bra-optical-illusion-suit-11831097.
[5] Leitch, Luke. ““A Dose of Poison against Nostalgia”: First Reactions to Duran Lantink’s Jean Paul Gaultier.” Vogue Business, 5 Oct. 2025, www.voguebusiness.com/story/fashion/a-dose-of-poison-against-nostalgia-first-reactions-to-duran-lantinks-jean-paul-gaultier?
IMAGES
Militano, Hannah. “A Brief History of the Cone Bra in Fashion.” Grazia USA, 7 July 2022, graziamagazine.com/us/articles/cone-bra-fashion-history-jean-paul-gaultier/.
