29 Jan Gaultier’s 51-Year-Old Runway Star: Inès de la Fressange

As always, this week’s Paris couture shows have been the stomping ground for stick-thin models with high cheek bones and clenched jaws.

But Jean-Paul Gaultier is not one to abide by rules. Despite the presence of singers Kanye West and Kylie Minogue, it was the former French supermodel Inès de la Fressange who stole the show.

As the voluptuous 51-year-old strutted down the runway,  the crowd cheered this  one-time French queen of the catwalk. Clearly moved, she turned to wave at old friends and slipped off a cream jacket in front of the cameras.

Mr. Gaultier, also caught up in the moment, chased the former supermodel down the runway and practically wrestled her to the ground during the final moments of the show catching her just before she fell.

Fashion models “are not just 14-year-olds,” Mr. Gaultier said later. “There are no [age] barriers to beauty.” The French designer explained that the curvy Ms. de la Fressange embodied the sexuality demanded his raunchy Spanish themed show, which also featured high-waisted pinstripe pants for women, suspenders and elbow-length gloves.

Ms. de la Fressange in the 1980s was the first model to sign an exclusive modeling contract with a haute couture fashion house — Chanel — and then went on to represent France’s symbol of femininity, Marianne. She described how she felt nervous backstage with the other models, “surrounded by all those sexy little things.”

Despite the warm reception from the crowd, she said her return to the catwalk was a one-off.  “For me it was like a Sunday,” she said batting her eyelids. “This is not my job anymore.”  –Max Colchester

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