Taking over the reins for Jean Paul Gaultier Couture SS22 represented something of a homecoming for Glenn Martens, with the designer and Belgian fashion designer and creative director at Diesel and Y/Project working as a junior designer for the French couturier after finishing his studies at the Royal Academy in Antwerp. His appointment as guest designer for Jean Paul Gaultier follows the French fashion house’s FW21 collection designed by Chitose Abe, founder and creative director of Sacai.
“We seldom get the chance to put together such elaborate silhouettes. For me, couture means pure beauty and elegance,” said Glenn Martens of the collection. “Looks that have no business being on the street.”
The Jean Paul Gaultier Couture SS22 collection sees Martens distil the Gaultier heritage and infuse it with the raw, edgy aesthetic of Y/Project. Staged in the Gaultier headquarters, Jean Paul Gaultier Couture SS22 took on a sensual and sexy vibe, with Gaultier codes revisited through new dressmaking techniques. A masterclass on corsetry, the garment features heavily with Martens reimagining the Gaultier classic within the couture realm. Corsetry techniques exaggerate the female form into Gaultier’s favoured hourglass silhouette, employed in trippy wiggle dresses with undulating stripes and dramatic architectural ruffled gowns.
The trompe-l’oleil imagery present in much of Gaultier’s ‘90s collections takes on dress form while the signature pelvis-framing Y/Project deep V adorns much of the collection. Featuring Belle Époque fabrics, Victorian crimson shades, chainmail-esque prints, fresh take on French marinière through layered tulle and velvet lacing, and long medieval-style velvet petticoats, accessorised with equality-striking silver or garnet corals, patchwork crystals, and antique woven brooches, Glenn Martens for Jean Paul Gaultier was indeed a homecoming. Showcasing the most iconic elements of the house of Gaultier and bringing them into the new world, Martens is a guest we don’t want to leave the house.
Words by Esmé Duggan
