Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026

The Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026 collection marks both the debut of Duran Lantink for the house and the brand’s return to the ready-to-wear schedule, following a hiatus that began after the Spring 2015 collection presented in September 2014. I’ve been excited for this one, so I’ll get right into it.

Out of the many designer debuts this season, Lantink’s for Jean Paul Gaultier was the one I was most looking forward to. Two reasons: I believe he’s a genuinely influential designer (and doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it) and, more importantly, that he feels like the perfect fit for Gaultier. From the very first look, the Jean Paul Gaultier house codes are there: the cone bra (although softened in that rounded Duran Lantink way – see Look 1); the Marinière hats and stripes; the trompe l’œil bodysuits (Looks 5 and 6).

There’s a definite Lantink touch too in the rounded shapes bulging outward (Look 20), and I also felt like there was a touch of Pierre Cardin-style retro-futurism in the flared sleeves (see Look 14) and alien-antenna-like shoulders (see Looks 19 and 22) where the neckline seems to form the top of the alien head and the shoulder straps are the antennae (just me?). The sunglasses take that futuristic idea further, blending goggles and eyewear into something more dystopian and technological.

The middle of the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026 collection confused me a little at first, until I read the press release – it references the Junior Gaultier line of 1988-1994 that was just bursting with that wonderful and chaotic club kid energy. The mustard yellow (see the trousers in Look 32 and the jacket in Look 34) is lifted directly from archive pieces, as is the patchworking, with the piping here mimicking the overlock stitching of those vintage pieces. Other signature Gaultier colours – sky blue, burgundy, grey – make their appearance too.

And, of course, the cone bra, famously worn by Madonna for her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. The high leg corset she wore gets reworked (Looks 2 and 18) while the cone bra itself is softened, even repositioned onto the waistband in Look 43. I can’t not mention the Jean Paul Gaultier Divine perfume bottle (released in August 2023) which features the same high leg corset and cone bra.

The blue and white Marinière stripes are presented in every direction: parallel lines running horizontally and vertically, in Vs converging to a point, as concentric circles, even with their colours being reinterpreted as a polka dot print. The sailor hat is treated with equal playfulness: transformed into the waistband of a jacket (Look 3) or being turned sideways to run laterally across the head from ear to ear (Looks 44 and 46).

The trompe l’œil bodysuit in Look 9 nods to Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 1997 Haute Couture, which also featured a hat with that same lateral shape presented here through the reworked sailor hats.

“I don’t do moodboards,” says Lantink, however one book served as a touchstone: Het RoXY Archief, 1988-1999 by photographer Cleo Campert which chronicled the legendary Amsterdam club scene at RoXY club – an era of hedonism Gaultier himself occasionally joined before the club burned down in 1999 after indoor fireworks for the wake of founder Peter Giele started a fire.

Presented in the basement of Musée du Quai Branly, with the words of American poet, activist and artist John Giorno on the soundtrack, JUNIOR is a fresh start for both Jean Paul Gaultier brand and Duran Lantink himself. See the collection below.

Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2026 Collection

Click to view full screen. Image count: 58