Drink Your Evian! Gaultier turns a healthy habit into an aesthetic experience

Posted by Colleen Nika at 4:15 pm November 29th, 2008 | 0 comments

Anyone seeking a pristine countenance, a fit figure, and a well-balanced diet knows all too well how important water intake is to the body’s internal and external wellbeing. Now, designer Jean Paul Gaultier reaffirms the advantages of H20 consumption and, remarkably, makes them even more attractive.

Water titans Evian, who commission a creative type to helm an artisan collection every Christmas season, recently signed Gaultier to design two limited edition capsule collections. For veracity’s sake — which we love! — there is both a “Prêt-à-Porter” collection as well as super-limited Haute Couture creations.

Available for pre-order now at ShopEvian.com, a lone “off-the-rack” Evian bottle can be yours for a mere $14; a case of dozen is a steeper $118. At first, the bottle design appears to be dotted by ordinary snowflakes — but in fact, this crystalline motif is an optical illusion: look again, and it transforms into a gown! Clever. The overall effect is streamlined, elegant, and, op-art trickery aside, not at all zany — odd, consider Gaultier’s propensity for the bizarre.

Obviously, the Haute Couture bottles are of a far more exclusive and elaborate class. Only seven of a kind, they are “cylindrical” mini sculptures in Baccarat and Swarovski crystal. They will be auctioned off in Paris on March 22, 2009 in honor of World Water Day. Profits will go to the Evian Water Protection Institute, which restores and maintains wetlands across the globe.

We wonder: how much people will pay for a bottle of Gaultier Couture? In years past, Evian collectibles have fetched quite a princely sum. In fact, Christian Lacroix’s Haute Couture design — winner of the 2008 Water Innovation Award, mind you! — was recently sold for an astonishing $23,000.

For those of you interested in other ways to luxuriate no-frills beverages, check out Roberto Cavalli’s take on the classic Coke bottle, a product available exclusively in Italy for only a few more weeks and Paul & Joe’s retro inspired prints on cans of Perrier.

For the Gaultier aficionados eager for more of his special projects, be on the look out for his upcoming children’s clothing collection.