Gaultier (Jean Paul)

Fashion designer / Member of the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation (April 2009). On behalf of the Born HIV Free campaign, the designer designed a sailor-stripe t-shirt with the logo of the awareness campaign for the Global Fund against AIDS (August 2010).

Born in 1932 in Bagneux, the son of an accountant and a cashier, Jean Paul Gaultier is renowned for his idiosyncratic blend of chic and shock, pomp and pop culture. His looks are laced with humour, smashing taboos and flying in the face of social convention. Taught how to sew by his grandmother, as a child Gaultier found a stash of corsets in an old trunk, and continues to populate his collections with a stock of images from his childhood. The fashion designer received no formal training, learning his craft by eagerly devouring fashion magazines and seeking inspiration in the films of Jacques Becker (Falbalas), the Folies Bergère showgirls and the Dim Dam Dom television series.

At the age of 18, JPG began to work for the Pierre Cardin fashion house, and went on to join the Jean Patou label and the Jacques Esterel label before returning to Pierre Cardin for a collection produced in the Philippines for the American market. After creating his own label in 1976 with Francis Menuge, the following decade saw Gaultier’s popularity soar. Embracing the unbridled spirit of the 1980s, his designs were snapped up by celebrities such as Madonna and French pop stars Sheila, Yvette Horner, Mylène Farmer and the group Les Rita Mitsouko. Gaultier has worked with film directors Luc Besson and Pedro Almodóvar, and costumed Preljocaj’s striking contemporary ballet, Snow White. In his time, Gaultier has brought sailor stripes back into fashion and invented the Toy Boy. The concept behind his infamous conical bra — mise en abyme of femininity for men, instrument of rebellion for women — is echoed in his fragrances and beauty products for men. Indeed, Gaultier’s only regret is not inventing jeans. But in light of his contribution to ready-to-wear and haute couture design, we can forgive him this much.

Ever independent, Gaultier sold a 35% share in his business to the Hermes label, and relished the opportunity to make his way back to the epicentre of Parisian fashion, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. For her wedding in February 2008, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wore a dress designed by Gaultier for Hermès.  But two years later, the designer of Hermès collections for women decided to move on to new pastures, producing his last collection for the company in October 2010. Some put this down to the death of Jean-Louis Dumas, one-time Hermès chairman, with whom Gaultier had built a working relationship based on friendship and trust.

This human touch is one of the elements which seems to drive Gaultier’s choices and collaborations, and so when his friend Carla, Global Ambassador for the protection of mothers and children against the AIDS virus for the Global Fund against AIDS, initiated a campaign to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, he offered to design a sailor-stripe t-shirt bearing the Born HIV Free campaign logo, given away on August 6, 2010 with Elle magazine.