The End Of Jean Paul Gaultier… And More

Jean Paul Gaultier, the eponymous fashion house founded in 1982, has officially gone blank on Instagram and people are freaking out. The bio for the page has been changed to ‘The end of an era’, but what does this really mean for fans of the brand? The questions are endless, especially after a same-day post with the cryptic message, ‘The End’, was also released.

The post on @jpgaultierofficial

Fans of the label are concerned by the mixed messaging, with optimists hoping that this is a marketing technique for the brand’s first collection under new creative director Chitose Abe. When Gaultier publicly announced his retirement in January last year, he explained that the label would be continuing with different guest creative directors per season: “Each season, I will invite a designer to interpret the codes of the House and I am doubly pleased that Chitose Abe of @sacaiofficial will be the first one!” Abe subsequently made clear his longstanding admiration for Gaultier’s “unique version of subversive femininity and his originality”, but many are questioning how the house will stand up under new leadership, and without the continuity that Gaultier provides.

Indeed, the label is more popular than ever, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Cardi B seen sporting vintage Gaultier tops, but it has been predicted that Abe will take the house in an entirely new direction, especially when considering the difference in style between Sacai and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Moreover, further concerns have risen about the sustainability of having frequent new guest directors, with the definition and image of the brand fluctuating as a result. If a label releases an average of four collections per year, 3-4 designers taking the helm within that period can forge many different versions of the brand and cause potential confusion for the loyal customer. In this way, lack of continuity could cause the label to lose its main demographic and exclusivity, signalling ‘The End’ of the brand and its techniques as we know it.

Twitter has also brought mixed opinions to light. Some fans think that Jean Paul Gaultier should bring the brand and his contributions in the fashion industry to a close, while others think that continuing the brand is necessary to spotlight emerging design talent. The counterargument to this is, of course, the risk in tarnishing the self-acclaimed image that Gaultier has built up over the years: “If anything, I wish it was ‘the end’ for so many other houses that milk their name out of everything and bring in the most random creative directors out of nowhere because they don’t know what else to do.”

So, it seems that these tactics succeeded in getting public attention, and nearly 24 hours after these changes, the house brought back its social media page and expressed excitement about the new journeys in its sight. Regardless of what ‘the end’ looks like, Jean Paul Gaultier has certainly opened a discussion about when and how brands should continue. Should it be up to creative directors and leading designers to make that decision? Should brands continue with other directors at their helm even when this inevitably changes the house’s ideologies and values? And with successes like Lagerfeld and the legacy he has created at Chanel, can change be good for fashion in every scenario? For now, for Gaultier, #futureiscollective.