The appointment of Duran Lantink as Jean Paul Gaultier’s new creative director marks a significant change in the maison’s strategy for the Enfant Terrible de la Mode. After several years in which designers have reinterpreted Gaultier’s heritage, Lantink will assume leadership of both the haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, marking the end of the rotational model initiated after Gaultier’s retirement in 2020. So far so good, but what will this new era mean for the brand and the industry?
Who is Duran Lantink?
To understand the scope of the appointment, it’s worth taking a closer look at the designer’s profile. Duran Lantink is not exactly an unknown, but neither is he the most obvious choice. What is it about this Dutch designer that has taken him from creating garments from recycled scraps to directing one of the most iconic – and eccentric – French fashion houses? Well, for starters, chutzpah. And then, that rare talent for turning “textile trash” into clothes that breathe art and curiosity. That vision earned him the ANDAM Special Prize in 2023 and the Karl Lagerfeld de LVMH in 2024, a prelude that pointed directly to houses with an auteur spirit like Gaultier’s.
He went viral with Janelle Monáe’s “vagina” pants -yes, those-, and since then he has dressed Billie Eilish, Doja Cat and Beyoncé. But beyond the names, what sets him apart is his discourse: feminist, queer, punk and deeply aware of what it means to make fashion on a planet that already goes just about everything.
Who Lantink? Why now?
The timing is key. After a five-year experiment with guest designers such as Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Haider Ackermann, Glenn Martens and Olivier Rousteing, the brand has regained a stable creative direction. And it does so by betting on a figure who, like Jean Paul himself in his early days, is not afraid to discomfort or disrupt the status quo. The objective is clear: to renew the brand’s DNA without turning it into an archive of itself.
Moreover, the return to ready-to-wear – a category abandoned in 2015 – underscores the intention to commercially revive the Gaultier universe. While haute couture has kept the brand alive in symbolic terms, the leap into the everyday closet calls for a new reading. Lantink seems to be the chosen one to translate this heritage to a young and restless public. It is not going to limit itself to reissuing bustiers. He is going to put a scalpel to the JPG legacy.
What can we expect?
His debut is scheduled for September 25 at Paris Fashion Week. Judging by his previous works, it is likely that the catwalk will become a space for cultural criticism. The nod to the non-normative, Gaultier ‘s trademark, will find in Lantink a new impulse, less nostalgic and more political. But beyond the show, the real challenge will be to build a sustainable proposal with commercial impact.
Can a historically irreverent maison seduce Gen Z without losing its essence, and can a designer with the soul of an artist manage the industrial gear of a global brand? It’s all up in the air, but the choice of Lantink suggests that Gaultier has already decided on his heir, and from the looks of it, that irreverence with which he created the brand is still in place, but in need of renewal. In short, Lantink has the tools to revive the legacy of the enfant terrible of fashion. Will he succeed?
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