The Second Times a Charm
Review of Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Trying to please too many master’s can only end in disaster seems apt to describe the pivot we saw on the runway today at Duran Lantink’s sophomore collection for Jean Paul Gaultier. And it was if that Sophomore show salve kicked in just in time to silence the critics.
Duran Lantinks debut for Jean Paul Gaultier did what it set out to do – get people talking. Now, with this the designers latest collection he is exploring on one of the many characteristics of the Jean Paul Gaultier brand, turning tailoring on its head.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Sculpted Subversion, Tailoring Transformed, Upside/Down & Inside/Out
Working to disrupt with a splicing of ‘tailoring, sportswear, and elegance’ the designer imagined a series of characters in his fall collections and created a world where the ‘detective, a cowboy, raver, steampunk figure, banker on Fifth Avenue or femme fatale’ can comfortably co-exist as the notes outlined. This season the legend that was Marlene Dietrich was on everyone’s moodboard for fall (she also popped up as a reference at Rick Owens). Lantink resurfaced a vintage find emblazoned with her face and took it as a sign to subvert the clichés of the house of Gaultier in the same way she did in her long, illustrious career. Outlining in the notes that ‘Her aura was sweet and dominant, sexy and graceful, the ultimate hybrid.’
The ultimate exercise in hybridisation, there was finally a natural merging of these two provocative designers. Clearer than his opener for the brand, for this fall you were witnessing a designer comfortable and at play with the house codes. A classic pinstripe tailored look was a subversive trick of the eye – high-cut briefs and garter belts were layered on top of trousers while a collar drawn up and over the head to resemble a hood were just the start of a collection that turned Gaultier’s codes upside down. Cowboys and their hats merged into tailored vests, a tailored blazer was worn inside out and reworked in colour-blocked nylons, and pencil skirts protruded suggestively at the front resembling a mans ‘bulge.’
Revisiting old designs and remaking them has been what has allowed the designer to stand out as an emerging talent – and land him the top role at Gaultier – so here again he approached his second collection with ideas aligned to his values. Reimagining looks from spring 2016’s Le Palace haute couture collection to fall 2004’s Les Marionnettes, the latter became a fun print for a body-stocking that won’t illicit as visceral a reaction as the one featured in his first collection and the former inspired tailoring to became living sculptures and the closing gowns to joyfully bounce down the runway.
In embracing the ‘spirit of transformation’ and the playful nature that Lantink brought to his namesake brand the designer has produced a successful sophomore outing that has given him a freedom that many emerging talents can only dreams of at the start of their careers. This alongside his unfettered access to Mr Gaultier, which the notes revealed as taking the form of ‘regular lunch dates’, is a recipe that will give the designer an enviable guide to making the house his own.
THE WRAP UP
Lantink’s second outing for Jean Paul Gaultier felt like the moment when the designer settled into his confidence in experimentation. By finally revisiting the archive Duran Lantink proved he understands that the house thrives on the transformation of provocation. Tailoring warped with optical illusions, characters collided as if in a multi-verse movie and garments that subverted sexuality in ways that would have pleased Mr Gaultier himself.
If his debut sparked controversy and divided opinion, this sophomore outing suggested a designer beginning to find his rhythm inside one of fashion’s most influential ateliers.
