Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Duran Lantink’s debut collection for Jean Paul Gaultier is called “JUNIOR.” A nod, of course, to the cult Junior Gaultier line from 1988–1994: the rebellious, youthful, club-inspired offshoot that first drew Lantink to the house of Jean Paul Gaultier and still makes him see fashion as a symbol of freedom.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
For its ready-to-wear Spring Summer 2026 collection, Lantink trusts his instinct about what Jean Paul Gaultier signifies today: fun, energetic, modern, urgent, alive. After months of Duranification, pieces are created, fitted, twisted, played with, and reinvented. It’s a process where creations magically come together or naturally fade away again.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Built on shared ideas of distorting the familiar, twisting references, and embracing surprise, the voices of the founder and his successor often come together. Marinière stripes appear as optical illusions. Dysmorphic play makes skirts fly and shoulders disappear. The classic tattoo-on-mesh is brought to life in 3D.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Glittering trompe l’oeil bodies, with human anatomy printed across torsos. Burgundy, mustard yellow, sky blue, grey – a signature Gaultier palette. Dazzling jewelry. The result is both a revival of Jean Paul Gaultier’s ready-to-wear and the creative extension of Duran Lantink’s series of five acclaimed Paris shows, marked by radical volumes and disruptive silhouettes. The foundations are clearly there; new ideas flow abundantly.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
“I don’t do moodboards,” Lantink says. But there is one reference book in the mix: ‘Het RoXY Archief, 1988–1999,’ a leafy tome by Dutch photographer Cleo Campert, chronicling Amsterdam’s legendary club that shaped an era of hedonism. RoXY was sweaty, debaucherous, anarchic, stylish in the most careless way. (Mr. Gaultier himself was an occasional RoXY guest, unlike Duran, who was 11 years old when the venue burned down. The sensation stuck.)
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
A special mention goes to John Giorno, the American poet, activist, and artist (1936–2019), whose hypnotic recordings often serve as a meditative soundtrack for Lantink at work. “It’s like being transported into someone else’s thought process. I love it,” he says. Giorno’s groundbreaking legacy lives on through his Dial-a-Poem phone line and, of course, in the JUNIOR show soundtrack.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier’s JUNIOR collection for Spring Summer 2026 ready-to-wear was showcased in the basement of the Musée du Quai Branly, the Parisian museum dedicated to global cultures. It’s history nearby if not literally visible; a memory trigger. Lantink compares it to catching a whiff of Le Male on your pillow— the giddy reminder of what happened last night.
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
Jean Paul Gaultier Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2026 – Junior
Credit Yannis Vlamos
It’s not called JUNIOR for nothing. It’s a new heartbeat, a new starting point and a new freedom.
