The collection that united the fashion world - in disbelief
Jean Paul Gaultier’s new era by Duran Lantink provokes, but for all the wrong reasons.
If fashion is meant to make us feel, this one made us want to look away.
When Duran Lantink announced ahead of his debut for Jean Paul Gaultier that he was “not entering the archive,” it sounded like a bold manifesto.
A break from nostalgia. A step toward the new.
But when the collection appeared on the runway, digitally printed bodysuits depicting naked torsos, complete with body hair, nipples, and exaggerated genitals, it didn’t feel like a rebellion.
It felt like a rejection.
One male model wore a black belt over a skin-toned bodysuit that mimicked pubic hair. Another female model’s skirt lifted like a lampshade to reveal an anatomical print beneath.
Online, the reaction was instantaneous and strikingly unified.
“Feels like the designer dislikes women,” wrote one user on Instagram.
“How do you take a brand about making women beautiful, and turn it into this?”
For once, the internet seemed to agree: no one liked it.
Jean Paul Gaultier built his empire on contradiction, but always with love. His work celebrated the seductiveness of women, the playfulness of identity, and the freedom of self-expression.
Even when he blurred gender lines or challenged ideals, he never humiliated the body. He exalted it.
This collection did the opposite.
Women are shamed daily for the most natural thing in the world, body hair. We’re told to wax, shave, laser, exfoliate, repeat, because smoothness equals femininity, apparently. And now, after decades of that conditioning, a luxury fashion house decides to “liberate” us by printing exaggerated, hyper-realistic body hair on sheer bodysuits? It’s almost comedic in its tone-deafness. You couldn’t script a better satire of how fashion can miss the point entirely.
There’s a fine line between challenging convention and making clothes that feel degrading to wear, and you can tell when a man drew that line.
As one viral TikTok comment put it,
“Who approved this? It’s insane.”
Provocation has always been part of Gaultier’s DNA, but it was never empty. His most daring designs, the cone bras, corsetry, sailor stripes, carried impeccable structure and meaning. They provoked through precision.
Duran Lantink’s debut, titled Junior, seemed to chase shock over substance. The construction was uneven, the message unclear.
Even Vogue Business called it “a dose of poison against nostalgia.”
And The Business of Fashion noted the tension between “rebellion and coherence.”
The show looked like a performance piece that confused discomfort for depth.
What would Gaultier think?
It’s hard not to imagine Jean Paul himself watching this from the sidelines.
The man who made women feel powerful, whose shows celebrated drag, diversity, and age long before the industry caught up.
Above all, Gaultier made women beautiful.
He celebrated seduction as art.
This new chapter felt like the opposite, a parody of provocation, not its evolution.
It’s almost comically bad, not because it shocks, but because it mistakes exposure for empowerment.
The fashion world rarely agrees on anything. But this time, it did.
Designers, editors, and fans across platforms voiced the same sentiment:
This wasn’t just controversial; it was careless.
“Please respect the body, respect the clothes, respect the fashion.”
“WTF are you doing to legends?” wrote one commenter.
I’ll always respect risk.
Fashion should evolve. But provocation without empathy, without craftsmanship or purpose, isn’t evolution.
It’s noise.
Until the next season, may the archive rest, and rise again with grace. ✂️
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