Not many women have worn a skirt so extensively beaded it weighs 10 kilograms, or 22 pounds.
Mouna Ayoub has — once.
“Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me much,” the French socialite and businesswoman said about the garment’s heft. “It’s a testament to French savoir-faire and the incredible quality of Jean Paul Gaultier‘s workmanship.”
That narrow tartan skirt, styled after a Scottish kilt but realized with thousands of tiny, colored glass beads embroidered by Maison Lesage, was from Gaultier’s fall 1998 haute couture collection. It’s one of 41 Gaultier couture ensembles Ayoub will part with at a Maurice Auction sale in Paris on Nov. 25.
The skirt, which comes with a fur-lined bomber jacket, is estimated to fetch between 12,000 and 15,000 euros.
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“I’m letting go of these extraordinary pieces primarily because I don’t wear them anymore,” Ayoub said. “I wore each just once, and I have a principle to preserve my couture pieces in immaculate condition.”
What’s more, she has many young friends “who didn’t have the opportunity to order from JPG during his active years. This feels like a wonderful way to let others experience the best of JPG couture.“
Among exceptional lots is a strapless denim gown that yields to a fishtail skirt in a dégradé of ostrich feathers. The dreamy number from Gaultier’s spring 1999 couture collection should fetch between 25,000 and 35,000 euros, according to British fashion expert Kerry Taylor, with whom Ayoub teamed last year to sell the crème de la crème of her collection of Chanel haute couture.
A real estate maven, and one of the world’s most fervent collectors of haute couture, Ayoub lauds Gautier’s excellence and innovation, and the exceptional quality the maison’s ateliers turn out.
“His creativity shines in pieces like a jacket crafted from vintage, embroidered handbags. He is, quite simply, a genius,” said Ayoub, who has met the designer, who retired from the runway in 2020, many times.
“What stands out most is his genuine kindness and the fun, lighthearted energy he brings,” she said. “His view on fashion is that it should be surprising, never dull or overly conservative. For him, fashion is about fun and flair.”
Ayoub’s choices reflect that, spanning couture looks bearing his signature sailor stripes, cabaret themes, corsetry and gender-fluid designs.
Among her favorite ensembles is a soutache embroidered pantsuit from Gaultier’s “Punk Cancan” collection for spring 2011, which required more than 200 hours of handwork.
She was brave enough to wear the denim evening gown, titled “L’Écume des jours” (“Froth on the Daydream,” in English) after the 1947 Surrealist novel by Boris Vian, and received many compliments.
“I was horrified when I lost a feather, though, so I took it off immediately,” she related. “It’s a piece meant for a museum, after all, and deserves to be treated that way.”
A well-known fashion figure and jet-setter originally hailing from Lebanon, Ayoub works in real estate, buying and selling properties in the U.S. — and plowing the lion’s share of her gains into her bulging couture wardrobe, which numbers more than 2,000 pieces.
Ayoub’s Gaultier pieces will be on view Nov. 23 and 24 at 84 Rue de Turenne.
