French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1952. Encouraged at an early age by his maternal grandmother, Gaultier began sending his sketches to designers. One of whom – Space Age avant-gardist Pierre Cardin – hired the untrained Gaultier as an assistant on his 18th birthday. After working at Jacques Esterel and Jean Patou in the early 1970s, Gaultier debuted his inaugural collection in 1976 at a planetarium in Paris.
By the early 1980s, Gaultier developed a reputation as fashion’s enfant terrible – thanks to his surprising applications of unconventional materials, sharp tailoring skills, and truly eclectic sensibility. In the 1990s, Gaultier costumed Madonna’s Blonde Ambition tour and Luc Besson’s sci-fi film The Fifth Element, presented his first haute couture collection and launched a hugely successful line of fragrances.
Inspired by the exchange of cultures on Paris’s streets, Gaultier’s designs bring together punk, bondage, and divergent global communities. Describing his “obsessions” to The New Yorker Gaultier listed: “flesh, ethnicity, different kinds of global beauty, cinema, my interest with Madonna, tattoos, the Parisienne, the male as object, all that kind of thing.” He is considered an originator of modern street style and one of the most influential fashion designers of all time.
Supreme has worked with Jean Paul Gaultier® on a collection for Spring 2019. The collection consists of a Double Breasted Blazer, Cargo Suit Pant, Cargo Suit Vest, Double Breasted Plaid Faux Fur Coat, Reversible Backpack MA-1, Printed Trucker Jacket, Rayon Shirt, Printed Jean, Hooded Sweatshirt, Sweatpant, Schott® Leather Holster, Le Male Fragrance, Belt, Sunglasses, Vans® Chukka Pro and Vans® Era Pro.
The Supreme x Jean Paul Gaultier collection will be available online on Thursday , April 11th .
