MEN'S AND WOMEN'S
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier is a house of borrowed uniforms. A sailor's striped jersey, a corset, a naval tattoo, a tailored suit — each was lifted from somewhere it already meant something, then turned inside out until it meant close to the opposite. That habit is the whole identity, and it has kept the codes legible for decades.
The marinière is the clearest of them: horizontal navy and ivory stripes taken from French naval kit and stretched across knitwear, mesh, dresses and denim. Beside it sit corsetry worn as outerwear, with structured and conical cups, and trompe-l'œil prints that draw a tattooed or laced body onto sheer fabric so the garment reads as skin. Accessories carry the same jokes at a smaller scale. Nothing here is subtle, and none of it was ever meant to be.
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