• “Très joyeux!” exclaimed one showgoer after Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring 2017 couture romp. I couldn’t have put it better myself. 

• During a couture week that had a black cloud of, well, everything that’s happening outside the fashion bubble, hovering over it, Gaultier gave us a ray of sunshine—quite literally. 

• His soleil-drenched outing, with striped suits and sundresses, denim-print jackets and dresses, poppy and daisy motifs, straw hats, draped gingham-print wares, and other countryside looks with a subversive Gaultier twist.

• The collection was a solid mix of fantasy and reality, combining fantastical gowns, frocks, and caftans, and more wearable (but still opulent) suits and separates. 

• The set was covered with images of wheat stalks set against sunny skies—a sign of prosperity. Brigitte Bardot’s “Le Soliel” played in the background. 

• Anna Cleveland did her thing on the runway, naturally, in dancing in a black gown with constructed pinwheel sleeves. 

• But the star of the show was Gaultier’s sun nymph, Coco Rocha, who swayed to and fro on a giant wooden swing, before leaping onto the runway and skipping—barefoot—while wearing a fluid, flirty silk gown. 

• The show harkened back to simpler, happier times. 

• Gaultier is one of the few designers who unfailingly provides a delicious, uplifting escape through his collections. And this season, we needed his dreamworld more than ever.