January 30, 2025 |
This couture season, Ludovic de Saint Sernin was handed the keys to the Jean Paul Gaultier cutting room and with the house’s masterful atelier at his fingertips, he created something that could be likened to tempestuous fever dream – sultry, sculptural and dripping in sensuality. Taking the helm as JPG’s guest designer – following in the footsteps of designers like Simone Rocha, Julien Dossena and Haider Ackermann – he conjured up an oceanic odyssey where pirates, sirens and lost lovers emerged from the depths in slinky silks, macramé nets and slick, reptilian latex. Dubbed Le Naufrage (which means The Shipwreck), it was an ode to “star-crossed voyagers, lost to red-blooded passion on rough open seas”.
Throughout, the Belgian designer honoured Gaultier’s signature eroticism and theatricality, but filtered it through his own lens of stripped-down sex appeal. Corsetry, a shared obsession of both designers, took centre stage, and each look took on its own character, from Mélusine’s verdigris satin duchesse bodice with tarnished metal-beaded netting to Jeanne’s lambskin column gown, bound by 75 meters of nappa leather lacing.
The collection was a masterclass in contrasts too: fluid mousseline sat against rigid tailoring, while raw textures collided with meticulous embellishments. The Captain’s Swarovski-strewn silk mousseline mermaid skirt glistened like wet skin, while The Virgo’s crystal-mesh net shimmered like a siren’s snare. Ariel, in direct reference to The Little Mermaid, donned a bundle-draped ivory dress bound by 12 metres of rigging rope spun with weathered metal sequins. Then La Mariée, the final bride, floated down the catwalk in a goose and ostrich feather-embroidered corset and organza train.
The collection didn’t just respect Gaultier’s legacy; it expanded upon it the de Saint Sernin way. Le Naufrage was an intoxicating descent into desire, proving that couture can be both poetic and provocative.
Photography courtesy of Jean Paul Gaultier.
