Can You Say......Awkward......Chris Brown and Gaultier?

A few days ago in Paris, Jean Paul Gaultier presented a fall 2010 boxing-inspired men's show in which the models were made up to appear battered and bloody. Gaultier walked the runway for the finale, jolly as ever, in the same makeup, appearing as though he'd just taken a few swift hits to the face. And who should pose beside him after the show but Chris Brown? Of course, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault last year. And surely the photos of Rihanna that surfaced after the Grammys are not too distant a memory for many. So, this is one hell of an awkward photo op — the birth of awkward, if you will.

WWD spoke to Brown:
Brown noted he is also open to any propositions in the fashion field, though he would prefer to collaborate with a label rather than launch a full line under his own name. “It has to kind of blend with what I’m doing because I’m so busy,” he said.

It's so strange — when a celebrity has a falling out with the world or an industry, fashion people scoop them up like they're going out of style. As with the eighties revival of fall 2009, they often don't care if these people have already gone out of style. MTV fired Alexa Chung, but hey! Madewell will take her! Jessica Simpson no longer has a recording career or even a reality-television career, but she's got her own lines of shoes, swimwear, and most recently jeans, with more sure to follow. In a more extreme example, Lindsay Lohan has a top position at Emanuel Ungaro. And now designers are welcoming Brown to their front rows with open arms. And if his acting and recording careers don't quite pan out, like Lindsay, he could probably find a label to let him "design" a line, too.