Jean Paul Gaultier Pre-Fall 2025 Ad Campaign

Review of Jean Paul Gaultier Pre-Fall 2025 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Max Siedentopf and Photographer Director of Photography Cesar Decharme with model Jennie

Jean Paul Gaultier steps into a transitional era with a pre-fall 2025 campaign fronted by Jennie of Blackpink. With the house awaiting the debut collection by new permanent creative director Duran Lantink, this collection—designed by the in-house studio—leans into Gaultier’s DNA of corsetry, trompe-l’œil, and sensual tailoring, framing them through the lens of the four classical elements: water, fire, earth, and air.

The campaign, directed by Max Siedentopf, makes deliberate use of light and shadow, blurring the lines between studio set and stage performance. Between bursts of spotlight and behind-the-scenes camera rigs, Jennie is cast as both subject and spectacle—a modern-day showgirl moving with precision and ease across the elements. This slightly meta setup gestures toward the performance of fashion itself, creating a visual dynamic between control and surrender, poise and presence.

While the looks themselves tread familiar Gaultier ground—body-mapping silhouettes, sheer second skins, and sharply sculpted denim—the campaign feels forward-looking in its hybrid of polish and backstage intimacy. Jennie’s casting signals a strategic extension of the brand’s global visibility: while her longstanding relationship with Chanel is well documented, her eclectic styling choices have allowed her to fluidly inhabit a range of fashion identities, and here she channels Gaultier’s blend of confidence, sensuality, and theatricality with ease.

The campaign’s greatest strength is its mood. Rather than reiterate Gaultier’s past through overt nostalgia, it reorients the codes toward a contemporary stage—one where performance, projection, and authenticity collide. Jennie herself puts it best in the campaign notes: “Every look had its own energy—fluid, fiery, grounded or light—and I loved expressing all those sides of myself through Gaultier’s incredible design.”

As a placeholder before Lantink’s first official collection, this campaign positions the brand in a state of suspended motion—rooted in legacy, but edging into the future, one lightbeam at a time.