October 6, 2025 |
Perhaps people have forgotten how shocking Jean Paul Gaultier was? They didn’t call him enfant terrible for nothing and so when Duran Lantink sent out a bodysuit, printed with a hairy, naked, full frontal male body, it felt like he was channelling the inherent irreverence and naughtiness of the brand he now helms. His debut show, full of shocks, thrills and daring silhouette manipulations was presented with huge conviction and prompted happy tears from the JPG, who watched from the front row.
Lantink set the scene. We walked through a room strewn with party detritus to get to the basement show space in the cavernous, industrial underbelly of the Jacques Chirac foundation. There, Lantink’s new Gaultier crew stalked its strip lit corridors like party happy ravers heading for the dance floor.
Rather than deep dive into the archive, Lantink worked on his own early memory of the brand. He had a precocious interest in fashion from an early age and once wore a sheer Gaultier top with Ganesh printed on it to school. He never forgot how empowered it made him feel, and that was the emotion he wanted to transmit with his debut.
Also on his mind? Images of clubbers wearing the Junior Gaultier line in a seminal book by the Dutch photographer Cleo Campert, Het RoXY Archief, 1988-1999.
He dubbed the show Junior in honour of that seminal diffusion line, keying into the club/streetwear vibe and skewing the brand as young and hedonistic.
The show opened with an orange velvet catsuit with pneumatic, fertility goddess bosoms, Lantink’s take on Gaultier’s infamous conical bra gowns. High cut bodysuits worn by men as well as women, 3D tattoo tops, bare midriff trench coats, Breton-stripe body suits and bikinis as well as tops and cycling shorts bearing the Junior Gaultier logo played to the brand’s distinctive song book. They mixed with sculptural padded or wired pieces – Lantink’s experiments with silhouette and form are not, he says, designed to change the body but change the garment. Wire hems flipped up to reveal Breton stripe knickers, trousers hung from a belt at the waist and dipped down dramatically to expose the hip bones. These looks aren’t for everyone but they have a renegade, irreverent energy that’s impossible to deny.
Photography courtesy of Jean Paul Gaultier.
