To the untrained eye, the homoeroticism in Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male advertisementsmight not be blatantly obvious. Upon a closer analysis of the advertisements, the homoeroticcontent present in all of Gaultier’s work becauses clearer. Jean Paul Gaultier, L’Enfant Terribleof French fashion, describes himself “as a revolutionary, systematically calling into questionclichés, standards, codes, conventions and traditions. He turns, shifts and flips them around -even destroys them - in his bid to reinvent them.”Gaultier was referred to as L’Enfant Terrible, which translates to terrible child. Thissheds light on how Gaultier was viewed by the fashion designers that he worked with, and byFrench society. Due to the fact that this was a nickname, …show more content…
Gaultier was raised in the suburbs of Paris, never being formally trained as afashion designer. His maternal grandmother introduced him to fashion, and from a young agehe sent sketches to famous couture stylists. In 1970 Pierre Cardin hired him as an assistant,and introduced him to the world of fashion. Gaultier was known for his use of unconventionalmodels throughout his works. Ranging from larger or older women, to people of color, to heavilytattooed and pierced models, and finally to a trans model.The model in the ad analyzed, Robert Perovich, although an able-bodied white man,would still be looked at as an unconventional model. This is attributed to the presence ofmultiple tattoos, while were not placed for the significance of the ad. He has a tattoo across hisleft bicep, on his left pectoral, as well as what appears to be his name, Robert Perovich II,tattooed across his chest as well. Perovich has done editorials in Out magazines, but has neverconfirmed his sexuality. In the ad itself, Perovich is posed shirtless, wearing a dixie cup sailorhat, and white shorts, with a striped shirt attached to his