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Dazed Backstage Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture AW14
Backstage at Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture AW14Photography Jacques Habbah

Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture AW14

Hooded villainesses with red-rimmed eyes vamp down the runway after 85-year-old model Daphne Selfe, followed by a Conchita Wurst cameo – Susie Bubble reports

Initial reaction:

Everybody wants to rule the world. So sang Lorde in her cover of the Tears for Fears track, which played during Jean Paul Gaultier's show. Gaultier this season was obviously a power monger too as he sent a show of villainesses in smouldering black, sequinned hoods and degrade organza, vamping down the runway. Maleficent, Morticia Addams and every other badass/baddie female out there was out in force.   

How they wore/walked it

Hair backcombed into a squared off height as if permanently electrocuted. Red-rimmed eyes that look like they're emitting blood rather than tears. Black crystals dotted into a heart shape around the face. Some had disguises like a bird-like houndstooth mask or a tasselled veil. Models swaggered as normal but some played up. Gaultier opened with 85-year-old model Daphne Selfe, who sadly couldn't handle the heels, but still ruled the runway somehow. Another model in a fur-trimmed cape and black trousers, wore a mock-scary expression on her face and hammed it up down the catwalk with a mirror in one hand. 

Rise Like a Phoenix:

Gaultier is a pro at unconventional casting and also at gender bending so it was no surprise that the star closer of the show was none other than Conchita Wurst, winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. She did indeed “Rise Like a Phoenix” as she came down the runway in a black sweeping gypsy dress with brocade panels. And yes, her beard is perfection. Not a single hair out of place.  

The soundtrack to Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture AW14:

Last season, Jean Paul Gaultier's show was a celebration of the flaunting, empowered woman, with a guest appearance from Dita Von Teese. See it below: