Jean Paul Gaultier was born in 1952, in France.
As a child he spent his time observing the changes produced by his grandmother who worked in a beauty salon, as a beautician and hairdresser, and he was fascinated by observing the transformations that she produced in her clients.
These transformations served Jean Paul as a creative and inspiring guideline for what would later consolidate his talent as a designer. Young, creative and self-taught, he soon began to design sketches, a hobby that led him, at just 18 years old, to get a job as a designer in the workshop of Pierre Cardin, a couturier who offered him great opportunities, but Jean PaulAt the age of 22, she decides to become independent and present her own women’s collection.
In it, he makes clear his taste for combining delicate and different textures, such as tulle with leather, and informal clothing with formal pieces, this miscegenation and mixture of styles is something that does not go unnoticed by critics, who predicts a successful race.
Full of confidence and with the help of Francis Menuge, (man that Jean Paul describes as the best thing that has happened to him in his life), in 1977 he created his own brand and since then has presented several collections every year.
The ’80s were his thanks to collections such as High Tech, Etier papier, Paris gaultier, Dadaiesme, collections based on streetwear, focused on popular culture, and highly formal and at the same time unusual haute couture collections, form the broad spectrum encompassed by Gaultier.
In 1984 he launched “Sex object”, his first collection of men’s clothing, followed by another in which he visited models with skirts, which generated wide repercussions.
Also passionate about cinema, he has designed costumes for films such as “Kika” or “The fifth element”.
He has also dressed great music stars: one of his clients, Madonna, asked him for the integral design of the costumes for the world tour of “The Blonde Ambition” in 1990, in which the corset that the singer wore caught the attention of the public worldwide and was another great success of the career of Gaultier.
Through all your parades, Jean Paul, tries to convey his idea of a total show: in them, the combination of music, the setting and the decoration form a combination, a whole that makes it clear that his message has always been linked to a punk attitude, with the motto “do what you want” as a flag and personal insignia.
In 1987, he obtained the “Oscar of Fashion” from the hands of the French government, a fact that began an escalation of awards that goes through “The Golden Needle”, granted in Spain and several more that have consecrated it worldwide.
He also created a line of women’s and men’s perfumes, also one of the most valued on the market. “Classic”, the first launched by the French couturier, is famous for its bottle, (a bottle that imitates the body of a woman; a tribute to Gaultier to Elsa schiapparelli, who designed in the 50s a perfume whose bottle imitated the body of Mae west).
Jean Paul It is now close to its 50th birthday and continues to be as vital and original as it was in its early days. With YSL outside the fashion market, he now aspires to occupy the throne of the King of Paris.