Love Handbags for life...

I have been a huge Jean-Paul Gaultier fan for a very long time. His costume designs for the film "La cite des enfants perdus", lend the movie a whole new level of eiry atmosphere and the same can be said for "The Fifth Element".

What I really admire about Jean-Paul Gaultier is that he has never studied fashion or handbag design, yet he has managed to get where he is today. Instead he sent sketches to famous designers when he was only a teenager and succeeded in impressing Pierre Cardin, who hired him as an assistant in 1970.

Jean-Paul Gaultier has the reputation of either being based on street wear, focusing on popular culture, whereas others, particularly his Haute Couture collections, are very formal yet at the same time unusual and playful. Jean-Paul Gaultier caused shock by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like older men and full-figured women, pierced and heavily tattooed models, and by playing with traditional gender roles in the shows. This earned him both criticism and enormous popularity.

All the above handbags are from the 2008 spring summer collection and currently available online on styledrops.com.