As Jean Paul Gaultier's retrospective opens at London's Barbican, AnOther looks back at our favourite Eurotrash moments
Japanese animals
Jean Paul Gaultier trys out a number of Japanese products made for pets, including a pop-up umbrella.
Text by Mhairi Graham
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell was interviewed by Gaultier in 1993 to set the record straight on leaving her modeling agency: “models can’t be fired. We pay them, we are self-employed.” Campbell had been photographed a year previously by Irving Penn wearing Gaultier’s iconic pirate and corsetry collection.
Lolo Ferrari
The French dancer and pornographic actress was billed as “the woman with the largest breasts in the world.” She became a regular on Eurotrash and released a song titled Airbag generation. Here she is celebrating Eurotrash’s 100th Anniversary party alongside Alfred David, the Belgian eccentric who believed he was a penguin.
Kylie Minogue Interview
Boasting a cropped red haircut, Kylie Minogue was interviewed by Gaultier in 1995 to promote her role as Cammy in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Street Fighter. Eurotrash shadowed the popstar as she went shopping for underwear in Paris and visited controversial photography duo Pierre Et Gilles.
Carla Bruni
Dressed in a nautical pink all-in-one, Jean Paul Gaultier interviews Italian model Carla Bruni, humourously discussing love and sex in different languages.
Somewhere between his first corset-shaped perfume bottle (1993) and his debut Haute Couture collection (1997), Jean Paul Gaultier presented the cult late night show Eurotrash. Described as 'Legendary madness', Eurotrash offered a comical review of current affairs, often shown in the very early hours of the morning. With brightly coloured pop-art kitsch backdrops, it indulged a low budget appeal and a parade of bizarre guests, celebrities, playmates and camp humour.
Gaultier recorded the show in Paris alongside co-presenter Antoine de Caunes. The beauty of Eurotrash was that while it was outrageous and explicit, it was actually quite innocent, whimsical and not in any way sleazy or seedy. It was packed with the weird, the X-rated and the sexy but in a giggly, funny, silly way. It ran for 17 series, totalling 170 episodes spanning 10 years and is now a benchmark for 90s pre-digital television, offering a library that documents the social and cultural events of the decade, with plenty of flamboyant sauce and nudity. Here, AnOther present five classic Eurotrash moments.
