The debut campaign by Duran Lantink as creative director of Jean Paul Gaultier signals a deliberate shift in tone. Rather than revisiting the archive as nostalgia, the imagery reframes the house vocabulary through volume, distortion, and sculptural construction. Silhouettes appear engineered, bodies become part of the garment, and proportion is treated as a narrative device.
Lantink’s approach builds on the disruptive energy historically associated with Gaultier, but redirects it toward a more contemporary visual language. Corsetry, anatomical references, and hybrid tailoring remain present, yet they are pushed into exaggerated territory. The result feels less theatrical and more controlled – focused on shape, surface, and the tension between structure and movement.
The campaign was photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, whose precise and graphic style reinforces the concept. Clean backgrounds isolate the silhouettes, allowing the garments to read as sculptural objects. Light is used to emphasize contour and construction, while the compositions maintain a strong editorial clarity. The duo’s visual discipline keeps the surreal elements grounded, avoiding excess and keeping attention on form.
Casting also plays a key role. The models are presented less as characters and more as living structures, interacting with garments that reshape posture and line. This blurs the boundary between clothing and body, echoing one of Gaultier’s long-standing themes while aligning it with a sharper, contemporary sensibility.
What makes this debut particularly effective is its restraint. The campaign does not rely on heavy storytelling or elaborate sets. Instead, it builds impact through proportion, silhouette, and controlled experimentation. This positions Lantink’s first statement as confident and intentional, establishing a direction that prioritizes construction, conceptual clarity, and visual tension.
With this release, Jean Paul Gaultier enters a new phase where archive references function as material rather than destination. The emphasis shifts toward reinterpretation, pushing familiar codes into unfamiliar shapes while maintaining recognizability.
