Jean-Paul Gaultier returns to ready-to-wear after 6 years

UPDATE 25/05/2021: Jean-Paul Gaultier surprised all his many fans tonight with a major announcement regarding his collections: after a 6-year hiatus, the brand's ready-to-wear collection is preparing for a great return. At the moment the only two information in our possession indicate the date of the presentation, which will be held on May 28th, and the name of the collection, Les Marins. Among the protagonists of the show will be Bella Hadid, who also appeared in the teaser trailer released today along with models Omar Sesay and Qaher Harhash.

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Last week, Jean-Paul Gaultier's Instagram page deleted his profile picture, posted a post that read only the words The End and written in his Instagram bio: The End of an Era. The post worried Gaultier's 2.8 million followers, convinced that they were receiving the announcement of a definitive closure of the brand or at least a farewell to social media.

This was not the case as yesterday the brand shared a reel entitled Future is Collective that lists the brand names with which Gaultier's company is supposed to work in the future: the selection is opened by sacai, and in fact, the creative director of the brand, Chitose Abe, was invited to direct one of the brand's couture seasons; the other brands mentioned are Ottolinger, Palomo, Alan Crocetti, Pierre Hardy, Nicolas Lecourt Mansion, the accessories brand D'Heygere but also the singer Bambounou, the retailer SSENSE, the production company Bureau Betak, and the creative studio Bureau Future. 

The names mentioned in the reel are deliberately disparate and presented in a flash, almost as if it were a teaser trailer - and according to the caption of the post, others should be added in the future. What can be deduced from the title Future is Collective is that the new direction of the brand will be similar to that of a collective – or with a rotation of designers and creative directors who will propose different collections or product lines under the brand's insignia (and this would explain the presence of luxury brands specialized in accessories and jewellery) such as the one that Chitose Abe of sacai (mentioned in the list of names of the reel) was invited to create for the brand last year and that will be presented in Paris in a few weeks; or with real teamwork, with individual brands/designers who will take charge of the various departments developed by the brand such as accessories, perfumes, ready-to-wear and so on. After Gaultier himself announced his retirement last year, it was announced that the brand would adopt a new model, welcoming new designers from season to season charged with reinterpreting the house codes.