THE RELEVANT QUEER: Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gender-Bending enfant terrible of French Fashion

“One day I decided my teddy looked forlorn and ugly so I made him a corset.”

TRQ: Jean-Paul Gaultier Born April 24, 1952

Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is enfant terrible of French fashion with a playful approach to bringing his gender-bending aesthetic to mainstream pop culture. Born on April 24, 1952, Gaultier has inspired both praise and controversy with design work mirroring his love for street style and gay club culture. Pushing against the fashion industry boundaries in collaborations with entertainment icons like Madonna, Rihanna, Björk and Beyoncé have earned Gaultier a reputation loved and revered.

Gaultier was born in Arcueil, a suburb of Paris, France. His father was an accountant, and his mother was a clerk. They wanted him to become a teacher. His grandmother, Marie Garrabe, encouraged his interest in fashion, sketching and costume making.

Inspired by a television documentary on the Folies-Bergère, Gaultier’s grade school drawings of showgirls caught the attention of a scandalised schoolteacher. Young student Gaultier learned the value of shock and showmanship when he had to wear the drawings on his back around campus as punishment.

Opting out of formal fashion education, Gaultier studied newspapers and magazines for inspiration, and he sent sketches to couture houses around Paris. At 18 years old, Gaultier landed a job as a design assistant by Pierre Cardin in 1970.

After working at other design houses, Gaultier launched his own collection in 1976. A look from this time paired a studded leather jacket with a tutu communicated Gaultier’s dissatisfaction with conventions of French couture. He used well-honed tailoring skills to undermine accepted standards of good taste. His design work fused sportswear and classic fashion in a witty style that resonated with club cultures and emerging fashion students ready to challenge the business establishment.

In the 1980s, Gaultier developed a playful, entertaining media persona. He was instantly recognisable for his bleached blond hair and striped t-shirts. In 1984, WWD named him “Paris’s Court Jester.” His fashion shows were theatrical, and his clothes meant to be ground-breaking and outrageous. Transvestites, curvy women, and models with tattoos and piercings walked his runways.

In 1984, Gaultier introduced the cone bra, now regarded as iconic. In 1985, Gaultier introduced skirts for men as part of his ongoing blurring of masculinity and femininity. Worn by gay men in clubs in London and Paris, men’s skirts would reappear several times in Gaultier’s work.

Gaultier expanded his business operations and in the late 1980s his clothes were found in fashion capital retail spaces worldwide. Gaultier also consciously grew his media presence. He hired photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino for high-profile advertising campaigns. In 1985, Madonna wore Gaultier in Desperately Seeking Susan. As a designer, Gaultier had come into his own.

However, in the late 1980s, Gaultier suffered setback and loss. This is unsurprising given his open attitude toward sex and his own homosexuality, as well as his close connection to gay club culture. AIDS was devastating the lives and worlds of gay men, and the impact shook every corner of art and culture. Gaultier lost Francis Menuge, his lover and business partner of 15 years to AIDS-related illness.

By 1990, Gaultier was back at the forefront of fashion. He designed costumes for Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Gaultier designed 358 costumes (including the corset that defined her image at the time) for the Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour.

Madonna’s tour and Truth or Dare documentary shared an obvious affinity with Gaultier’s take on gender and sexuality and also grappled with the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic. Gaultier and Madonna continue to have a working relationship that has led to collaborations on costumes for the Drowned World Tour (2001), the Confessions Tour (2006) and The MDNA Tour (2012).

Gaultier told the Observer in 1997, “I love Madonna. That was one of the best times of my career.”

Through the 1990s, Gaultier went on to work with a number of artists and musicians. Björk modelled for him in 1994. He designed costumes for Pedro Almodóvar’s Kika (1993), which lead to his work on Bad Education (2004) and The Skin I Live In (2011). In 1995, Gaultier designed costumes for Marc Caro’s and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s The City of Lost Children.

In 2010 AmfAR awarded Gaultier an Inspiration Award for his contribution to mens fashion and fighting AIDS. From his connection to Hermès, to his mentoring relationship with Martin Margiela, Gaultier’s impact on the fashion industry has been extensive. He celebrated this impact with 2011’s The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to Catwalk, an international exhibition covering nearly four decades of his work.

In 2015, he announced he would focus only on haute couture. “Fashion has changed. A proliferation of clothing. Eight collections per season — that’s 16 a year,” he told the Associated Press, as reported by Business of Fashion. “The system doesn’t work… There aren’t enough people to buy them. We’re making clothes that aren’t destined to be worn.”

In 2018, Gaultier staged Fashion Freak Show at the Folies Bergère, a cabaret show based on his life. His 2019 collaboration with Supreme sold out instantly.

In 2020, Gaultier announced the end of his fashion shows. He now lives and works in Paris.

About the Authors

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore.

*

Biography

Britannica

Business Insider

Business of Fashion

GLBTQ Archive

Vogue