Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier (b. 1952) presented his first womenswear collection in 1977, launching his menswear line in 1984 with a collection titled ‘Boy Toy’ featuring men in variations of the French marinière striped jumper. As part of the Spring Summer 1985 ‘And God Created Man’ collection, Jean Paul Gaultier presented several models wearing kilts, which the media erroneously reported as the introduction of skirts for men. More than 3,000 were sold by the brand that season. In 1986 the first Jean Paul Gaultier store opened in Galerie Vivienne, Paris.

The label launched the Junior Gaultier line in 1988. Designed as a lower-priced diffusion range from Jean Paul Gaultier, it was deliberately aimed at a youth market. More than 450,000 garments were sold in the first season at the boutique on Rue de Jour, Paris. In 1989 the Japanese company Onward Kashiyama took a 60 per cent stake in Junior SpA, the Italian manufacturer of the Junior Gaultier line. In 1994 Gaultier ended the licensing deal with Onward Kashiyama and discontinued the line. Gaultier signed a new licensing deal with Stile Moda of Italy to produce a new line for men and woman called JPG. In 1992 the Gaultier Jean’s label was launched. In 2004 the Gaultier Jean’s line was manufactured by Euro Cormar and renamed Jean’s Paul Gaultier. In 1999, Hermès International paid US$23.4 million for a 35 per cent stake in the company. In 2008, they acquired an additional 10 per cent of the business. In 2011, the Catalan group Puig acquired 45 per cent of Jean Paul Gaultier from Hermès International and 15 per cent from the founding couturier.

It was not until 2002 that the first Jean Paul Gaultier boutique was opened in the United States on Madison Avenue, New York. The company’s first fragrance for men, Le Male, was launched in 1995, followed by GAULTIER² in 2005 and Kokorico in 2011. A men’s cosmetic and skincare line called Tout Beau, Tout Propre appeared in 2003. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts presented a major retrospective of the designer, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk in 2011. It then toured Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid, Rotterdam, Brooklyn, London, Paris, Munich, Melbourne and Seoul. In 2014 the Jean Paul Gaultier prêt-à-porter menswear and womenswear lines were closed. The label was revived in 2021 with Florence Tétier (b. 1983) appointed as the new creative director.

Sources: British Vogue; Financial Times; Jean Paul Gaultier, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, ed. Thierry-Maxime Loriot (Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Abrams, 2013); WWD.