Thierry-Maxime Loriot, Curator of the Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition THE RUFFLE-AND-ROSETTE-FESTOONED corset that was being prepared for the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion exhibition making its long-awaited tour stop in New York at the Brooklyn Museum, beginning Oct. 25, had discreet panels of stretch fabric sewn into the sides. It was a spring 2011 sample created for Beth Ditto, the outspoken singer who once took Topshop to task for not offering larger sizes, who once pointed out that Karl Lagerfeld is a former "fat kid," and who is not someone you would ever have expected to be found on a designer runway. "There are no taboos or boundaries with Gaultier," said Thierry-Maxime Loriot, the exceedingly handsome 37-year-old curator of "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier," which originated in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2011 and has been seen by an estimated 940,000 people during its run in Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid, Rotterdam and Stockholm. Mr. Loriot pointed to the corset as a metaphor for the exhibition's widespread appeal. "Any size, any skin color, any gender: you are all welcome in his world," he said. But in a funny twist of fate, Mr. Loriot, an unknown in curatorial circles before the runaway success of the Gaultier exhibition, was once turned away from that very world by none other than Jean Paul Gaultier. That would have been in the late 1990s, when Mr. Loriot was starting out as a fashion model, which is also a funny story, so best to start at the beginning. "I always loved research," said Mr. Loriot, who was born in Quebec City, a son of successful lawyers with international practices. His father worked for the legal section of the United Nations Development Program. As a child, he and his siblings were required to prepare reports for their family vacations. For a summer holiday in the Loire Valley, his assignment was Azay-le-Rideau, a 16th-century chateau on the Indre River. "I'm a kind of journalist in a way," he said. I love to know more about everything, and I remember thinking this is my castle. My curiosity comes from my parents. At 21, Mr. Loriot moved to Montreal to study architecture, but an acquaintance suggested he try modeling. The first agency he approached turned him down; the second put him on a plane to Paris, where he arrived, jet-lagged, at the studio of a photographer whose name he did not recognize. And while waiting, he fell asleep on a couch. "I remember this man woke me up and asked who I was there for," Mr. Loriot said. I said I was there to see Mr. Test-o-nee. He laughed and said, "Oh, you are very cute, and I will see you again." " The next morning, Mr. Loriot was on his way to London to shoot a Burberry campaign with Kate Moss. He worked as a model for the next decade, appearing in campaigns for Giorgio Armani, Lanvin, Zegna, Gap, Banana Republic and H&M. "It's quite easy when Mario Testino starts your career," he said. Unless you are auditioning for Mr. Gaultier, who, at a casting, took a look at Mr. Loriot's portfolio and turned him down. "He said, "Oh, no, too good-looking," " Mr. Loriot said. Modeling turned out to be a valuable lesson for Mr. Loriot, who is accustomed to people having preconceived notions about him because of his Paul Newman looks. In 2008, he began taking art history classes at the University of Montreal, and at a gala for the opening of an Yves Saint Laurent retrospective, he was introduced to a curator, who offered him an internship. He worked as an assistant on an exhibition about photography and another on John Lennon and Yoko Ono. And then Nathalie Bondil, the director of the Montreal Museum, offered him the opportunity to curate the Gaultier show. Its success was partly attributable to Mr. Loriot's clever staging, with video projections on the faces of mannequins that make them appear to talk, and a catwalk with rotating mannequins. "When I was a model, everyone said that it was their dream to see a fashion show in Paris, so when I was doing the exhibition, I was thinking how to translate this experience," he said. It's super-flattering that everybody is excited about this exhibition, but it's not about me. It's about Gaultier. I'm only a storyteller. Mr. Loriot claims to be shy, or at least he is very humble (and, if you must know, taken). Mr. Gaultier, by the way, said the opposite. "I am always in awe of his audacity," the designer said, noting that Mr. Loriot had no fear of asking for anything for the exhibition. While interviewing Gaultier fans for the accompanying catalog, after all, Mr. Loriot managed a private audience with Madonna at her home. He is also committed to the Gaultier exhibition, which has reminded fashion audiences around the world of the importance of a former enfant terrible. After Brooklyn, the show will next appear at the Barbican in London. Eventually, though, Mr. Loriot plans to develop new exhibitions, or possibly work for a magazine, having demonstrated (much like Mr. Gaultier) the fallacy of judging a book by its cover. "Some people have this image of male models," Mr. Loriot said, "but once they know me, they can make opinions for themselves."