Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2027 – The Art of Beautiful Chaos ⚡
Paris Fashion Week | Off The Cuff
There are fashion houses that respect the rules.
And then there is Jean Paul Gaultier.
For Spring/Summer 2027, the house's new creative chapter under Duran Lantink continued to embrace the wonderfully strange, provocative and unexpected spirit that has always made Gaultier so distinctive.
But this time, the chaos felt more considered.
More wearable.
And perhaps even more beautifully tailored.
Presented in Paris on 4 October, Lantink's latest collection brought together folklore, sculptural proportions, trompe-l'œil, vintage Gaultier references and sharp tailoring — creating a wardrobe where seemingly contradictory ideas somehow found a way to work together.
The result?
Gaultier, but with the volume turned up — and then expertly cut back into shape.
A New Chapter for Gaultier
Duran Lantink officially took over as Jean Paul Gaultier's creative director in 2025, following the house's remarkable succession of guest designers after Jean Paul Gaultier himself stepped away from ready-to-wear.
Since then, the challenge has been an obvious one:
How do you move Gaultier forward without losing Gaultier?
It is a difficult balance.
The house has an enormous visual vocabulary — corsetry, cone bras, sailor stripes, tailoring, tattoos, lingerie, trompe-l'œil, punk, provocation and an almost mischievous approach to the human body.
Lantink isn't attempting to erase those signatures.
Instead, he is treating them almost like a tailor treats an archive of cloth and patterns.
Take them apart.
Re-cut them.
Turn them around.
And see what happens.
That philosophy is becoming increasingly apparent in his work for the house. Vogue describes Lantink's approach as combining his inventive, boundary-pushing instincts with a growing emphasis on wearability.
The Cone Bra Returns
It wouldn't be Jean Paul Gaultier without a little architectural intervention.
For SS27, the famous cone bra returned — but not simply as an exercise in nostalgia.
Lantink played with the idea of the bust as sculpture.
One striking brown leather sleeveless piece exaggerated the chest and shoulders into almost cubist forms, turning the body into something closer to a constructed object.
Elsewhere, the house's famous body-conscious language appeared through sculptural garments, trompe-l'œil effects and exaggerated shapes.
The result was provocative without simply repeating the past.
And that distinction matters.
Gaultier's archive is so recognisable that simply reproducing its greatest hits would be easy.
Reinterpreting them is considerably harder.
Tailoring Gets Twisted ✂️
For us at A Hand Tailored Suit, the tailoring was one of the most intriguing parts of the collection.
Because beneath all the theatricality was something remarkably traditional:
cut.
Jackets, coats and tailored pieces appeared alongside the more extravagant silhouettes, but they were anything but conventional.
The proportions were manipulated.
The body was exaggerated.
Waists were pulled in.
Shoulders were expanded.
Lengths were distorted.
And familiar tailoring codes were transformed into something slightly surreal.
It is a reminder that tailoring doesn't have to mean conservative.
In fact, some of the most interesting tailoring happens when the fundamentals remain intact while the proportions are completely reconsidered.
A beautifully cut jacket can still be rebellious.
A suit can still be provocative.
And a structured shoulder can become a statement rather than merely a construction detail.
Folklore Meets the Future
One of the collection's strongest contrasts came from the meeting of folklore and modern fashion.
Lantink introduced references to traditional dress, including Alpine-inspired imagery, alongside contemporary tailoring and sculptural forms.
There were moments that felt almost theatrical — layered headwear, exaggerated shapes and references to historical costume — before suddenly shifting back into something recognisably modern.
This collision of worlds is very Gaultier.
Nothing is allowed to remain entirely what it appears to be.
A traditional garment becomes something provocative.
A corset becomes outerwear.
A suit becomes sculpture.
A familiar silhouette becomes slightly strange.
And suddenly, you are looking at it again.
The Joy of Trompe-L'œil
Trompe-l'œil has long been part of the Gaultier vocabulary.
For SS27, Lantink continued to use the technique to play tricks on the eye.
The collection repeatedly questioned where one garment ended and another began.
What looked like tailoring could become something else.
What appeared structured could be soft.
What looked traditional could suddenly reveal an unexpected construction.
It is fashion with a sense of humour.
And that humour is important.
Gaultier has never treated fashion as something that has to take itself too seriously.
There is intelligence in the clothes, certainly.
But there is also mischief.
A Body in Motion
Another recurring theme was the relationship between clothing and the body.
Rather than simply following the natural shape of the wearer, Lantink exaggerated it.
Shoulders became broader.
Chests became sculptural.
Waists became more defined.
Silhouettes twisted and shifted.
The clothing almost appeared to have its own anatomy.
That approach feels particularly appropriate for Gaultier.
The house has always challenged the conventional relationship between clothing and the body — asking whether clothes should conceal, reveal, exaggerate or transform us.
The answer, naturally, is:
Why choose one?
From Provocation to Wearability
Perhaps the biggest development in Lantink's Gaultier is the increasing balance between spectacle and reality.
His earlier work for the house was deliberately extreme.
For SS27, the experimental ideas remain — but they have become easier to imagine within an actual wardrobe.
That doesn't mean boring.
Far from it.
It means the extraordinary pieces are surrounded by clothing with a genuine sense of practicality.
Tailored jackets.
Leather pieces.
Trousers.
Coats.
Layering.
Separates.
The collection starts to suggest how the Gaultier customer might actually dress rather than simply how the Gaultier runway might shock.
As ELLE noted, the collection retains the designer's experimental spirit while becoming his most wearable Gaultier offering to date.
And that could be the most important development yet.
The Gaultier Suit
For a bespoke tailor, the Gaultier approach to the suit is fascinating.
The traditional suit has a recognisable architecture.
Shoulder.
Chest.
Waist.
Sleeve.
Trouser.
But architecture can be manipulated.
Move the shoulder.
Change the length.
Pull in the waist.
Increase the volume.
Alter the balance.
Suddenly, the familiar becomes something completely new.
This is where bespoke tailoring has an enormous advantage.
A made-to-measure or bespoke garment can be designed around the individual's proportions rather than forcing the individual into a predetermined shape.
The Gaultier runway demonstrates exactly how powerful proportion can be.
Sometimes changing one line of a garment can completely alter its personality.
Archive Without Nostalgia
There is always a danger when a new designer takes over an iconic house.
The archive becomes a safety net.
The temptation is to keep looking backwards.
But Lantink appears to understand that the archive is more useful as a source of ingredients than instructions.
The cone bra returns.
Trompe-l'œil returns.
Sculpture returns.
Provocation returns.
But they are rearranged.
That makes the collection feel connected to Jean Paul Gaultier without becoming a costume party dedicated to the 1980s or 1990s.
It is heritage with a pulse.
The Off The Cuff Take ✂️
There is something wonderfully appropriate about Duran Lantink taking over Jean Paul Gaultier.
Both understand that clothing can be playful.
Both question conventional proportions.
And both understand that fashion doesn't necessarily need to behave itself.
But what makes SS27 particularly interesting is the growing emphasis on cut and wearability.
Because underneath the surrealism, there is real craftsmanship.
The exaggerated shoulder still has to be constructed.
The sculptural chest still has to hold its shape.
The tailored jacket still has to balance.
The trouser still has to move.
The body still has to fit inside the garment.
And that is the great secret of adventurous tailoring:
You can break the rules — but you still need to know how the rules work first.
That is something Jean Paul Gaultier has understood from the beginning.
Watch Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2027 🎥
Ready for the beautiful chaos?
Watch Duran Lantink's latest Jean Paul Gaultier collection and see the sculptural silhouettes, twisted tailoring, archive references and unmistakable Gaultier attitude come together on the Paris runway.
Watch Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2027 on YouTube
Off The Cuff ✂️
Jean Paul Gaultier has never really been interested in asking whether something is normal.
The better question has always been:
“But what if we made it fabulous?”
And SS27 proves that Duran Lantink has understood the assignment.
The archive is still there.
The corsetry is still there.
The provocation is still there.
But now there is another ingredient:
A little more tailoring.
And frankly, we're very much here for it.
A Little Off The Cuff… 😉
At A Hand Tailored Suit, we're always happy to experiment with proportions.
Although if you ask us to create a suit with cubist breasts, a five-tier hat and a cone bra, we may need slightly longer than our usual fitting appointment.
We'll get the shoulders right first.
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— Off The Cuff A Hand Tailored Suit ✂️
