Jean Paul Gaultier Makes the Bizarre Beautiful—and Wearable

Exactly one year ago, Duran Lantink made his Jean Paul Gaultier debut with a collection of mind-bending propositions: a padded, spherical riff on the cone bra, a tattooed bodysuit rendered with realistic (and NSFW) extremities. It was a big swing, and the clothes dared you to look twice.

Today, he returned to Paris Fashion Week with the house’s spring/summer 2027 collection. The more experimental ideas were still there, but this time they came into focus with the designer’s most wearable offering for the brand yet.

The opening look, a pristine white coatdress with exaggerated shoulders and a sculpted lapel rising into a collar, set the tone. Lantink took familiar pieces, like a suit coat, and pushed them out of shape, with a clear line back to Gaultier’s talent for flouting the rules of fashion.

Even the basics came with a twist. Slim, low-rise jeans, buttoned off-center, were paired with a backless halter top with bursting ruffles and lemon-yellow sandals. The house doesn’t make handbags, but under Lantink it’s expanding into footwear. Split-toe shoes appeared throughout, in flat, heeled, and lace-up styles.

That instinct speaks to both Lantink’s eye for styling—jeans with a funky shoe and a going-out top feels of-the-moment—and his broader 360 vision for the house.

Like his predecessor, Lantink is interested in how clothes can reshape the body. That showed in the tailoring: a sharply defined hourglass blazer, a trench coat with an exposed bustier-like detail, and a tartan skirt suit with a contrasting inner collar. Then came the more literal nods to anatomy.

The cone bra, one of the house’s most important contributions to fashion, appeared in flashes and with less fanfare than in seasons past. Here, it was built into cutout looks: minidresses and maxi dresses, along with denim shirts, were missing their middles, leaving the sculptural cups exposed.

Elsewhere, a cropped “dress shirt” had a 3-D hem that stood away from the body, while a caged leather dress was studded with metallic baubles. The headpieces brought their own personality, from a veil-like covering to a tiered topper.

For some, “wearable” can carry an unfavorable connotation, especially on the runway, where far-out ideas are the norm. But here, even the foundational pieces had a point of interest, something slightly “off” about them.

Lantink, like Gaultier, knows how to shock and delight with his eye for the bizarre and the unexpected. Yes, the best clothes are the ones that make you feel something. But they’re also ones you can actually wear.