Haider Ackermann: "With Jean Paul Gaultier no need to take a plane to be transported elsewhere!"

“Welcome to my new premises, dare I say…” We are in the Parisian Belle Époque headquarters of Jean Paul Gaultier, at 325, rue Saint-Martin, where Haider Ackermann welcomes us.

He has been there since the end of July.

After Chitose Abe, Glenn Martens and Olivier Rousteing, the designer answered yes to the invitation of the star couturier who, since he retired from his house in 2020, now invites a different designer each season to interpret his haute couture .

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In video, Gaultier by Rousteing, the trailer

On January 25, it will therefore be the turn of Haider Ackermann, a Frenchman born in 1971 in Colombia, one of the most talented designers of his generation, known for his refined clothes, with a poetic, sensual and sophisticated aura, to deliver his vision of haute couture for the house of Gaultier.

"The terrible child of fashion" vs the king of fabrics, rigor and colors?

The poster is beautiful, and the announcement of this sensational collaboration put the fashion sphere in turmoil.

Especially since Haider Ackermann – who opened a house in his name in 2002 – had somewhat disappeared from the fashion radar screens for two years.

He reappeared, spectacularly last September, by dressing his friend Timothée Chalamet in a (now) iconic bare back, ruby ​​red jumpsuit at the Venice Film Festival, then by signing an electric show in Manchester in collaboration with the sports brand Fila.

On January 25, his haute couture show for Jean Paul Gaultier (“Monsieur”, as he will call him many times during the interview, to better underline his admiration for him) should also attract all the lights.

2023, the beginning of a new era for Haider Ackermann?

Timothé Chalamet at the Venice Film Festival.

Anadolu Agency via AFP

Miss Figaro.

– How did you react when Gaultier asked you to sign its haute couture collection?

This proposal came at a time in my life when I felt free again, with a great desire for a breath of fresh air, energy and electricity.

I was very honored by this request and above all transported with joy.

Doing haute couture has been my dream since the beginning of my career.

With the Gaultier house, we started our first conversations last March, then I joined the workshops at the end of July, just after Olivier Rousteing.

It's a terribly generous invitation from Jean Paul Gaultier, and when I get here, my first desire is to send him back this love letter he's addressing to us, the guest designers.

The only goal that I pursue with this parade is that Monsieur (Jean Paul Gaultier therefore, editor's note) be proud.

And if he is,

His parades were truly fantastic, folkloric, sometimes disturbing, provocative, but always elaborated with tenderness, humor and gentleness.

Haider Ackerman

What vision did you have of Jean Paul Gaultier before this collaboration?

When I was a student, I would go out of my way to attend his parades.

What I found magical with Gaultier was that with him there was no need to take a plane to be immediately transported elsewhere!

I particularly remember his fall-winter 1994-1995 collection, Le Grand Voyage, with Björk, where he took us straight to Mongolia, as well as the fall-winter 1993-1994 collection, which was called Les Rabbis chics .

His parades were truly fantastic, folkloric, sometimes disturbing, provocative, but always elaborated with tenderness, humor and gentleness.

I remember, as a teenager, that we spoke of him as a punk creator.

But I think it's above all her incredible open-mindedness that will go down in fashion history.

He tackled a considerable number of subjects before anyone else, including diversity and inclusion, which he was one of the first to highlight on the catwalks.

Today, when I see photos of his silhouettes from the 1990s, I want to post them on social networks with the precise dates so that students realize that he did everything before the others.

Take for example his fall-winter 2003-2004 haute couture collection, called Morphing, with his leggings and creations that hug the figure like a second skin.

It seems like everyone is picking it up today.

I want to post them on social networks with the precise dates so that the students realize that he did everything before the others.

Take for example his fall-winter 2003-2004 haute couture collection, called Morphing, with his leggings and creations that hug the figure like a second skin.

It seems like everyone is picking it up today.

I want to post them on social networks with the precise dates so that the students realize that he did everything before the others.

Take for example his fall-winter 2003-2004 haute couture collection, called Morphing, with his leggings and creations that hug the figure like a second skin.

It seems like everyone is picking it up today.

“We talked about everything except fashion!”

Did you discover other things about him by immersing yourself in the archives of the house?

His shows were so fantastic that we sometimes forgot to look in more detail at his clothes.

I discovered how perfectly constructed they were.

Again, he explored so many constructions, from Madame Grès drapes to tailoring, to sportswear.

All of his work is wonderful.

It was a great pleasure to be confronted with the talent of Mr., because inevitably we wonder: what more can we bring?

I didn't want to use all the codes we know about her – the sailor top, the conical breasts… – because my mission also consists of translating her work in 2023. Doing again what she has already done terribly well doesn't bother me. not interested.

I prefer to pursue a dialogue with Mr., talk about an attitude and see if I can take him elsewhere.

Have you discovered any commonalities?

Much more than I imagined.

The masculine-feminine, the idea of ​​travel, the tailoring, the colors… We also share an absolute admiration for Monsieur Saint Laurent and Madame Grès.

Of course, I had already met Jean Paul, we have friends in common – he's someone who always arrives with a smile and arms wide open – but I got to know him better with this collaboration.

We had dinner together and talked a lot about love and life.

In fact, we talked about everything except fashion!

He refuses to see what I've created, he gives me complete carte blanche, it's so generous of him.

I tried to ask him about his work, but I felt he was not interested!

In fact, what he wants is to be surprised!

“I need to hear hearts beating when the model appears on the catwalk”

This taste for travel, where does it come from, and who is the woman you tirelessly pursue in your fashion journeys?

I was born in Colombia, where my Alsatian parents adopted me when I was 9 months old.

My adoptive father was a cartographer, and I grew up between Ethiopia, Chad and Algeria.

I was therefore rocked all my childhood by these meters of fabric that enveloped the women of these countries.

They were very mysterious to me, but I also had the chance to attend weddings or parties during which they revealed themselves a bit in an orgy of fabrics, colors, gold and sparkles.

Then, when I left at the age of 17 to study fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, I discovered a Belgian school marked by austerity, restraint and discretion.

Having lived all my childhood in colorful countries, this caused a clash,

that still exists in my creation.

The woman I fantasize is neither really austere nor really eccentric, but she has this little touch of madness that comes from all my opposite worlds.

You have often been advertised in the biggest houses, but apart from a stint at Berluti between 2016 and 2018, you have always remained independent...

A very nice stint at Berluti, I must specify!

Because I took great pleasure in working in this house on another DNA than mine.

Before this experience, I had had other requests, but I felt that I didn't have much to bring to the brands that offered me to take their artistic direction.

Now, I am much more open to proposals…

If I am revealing my battle today, it is also to tell the younger generations that it is very important to live your dreams, but that you must not forget to have good legal support.

Haider Ackerman

You've kept a low profile since your brand's last show in December 2020. What have you been up to during those two years?

Yes, there was a lot of silence, of questioning, of hindsight too.

I experienced a very violent moment, because, when I wanted to leave my company two years ago following a conflict with my CEO, I lost my name and the right to design under my patronymic.

I didn't protect myself enough.

This name, I was very attached to it, not only because it is that of my house, but especially because it is the one that my adoptive parents transmitted to me.

I fought and, after a trial, I managed to get it back.

In fact, the health crisis helped me, because no one questioned my absence, and it was painful for me to talk about it.

If I am revealing my battle today, it is also to tell the younger generations that it is very important to live your dreams, but that

we must not forget to surround ourselves well legally.

At the same time, this period also helped me move forward and materialize projects, such as the Fila fashion show and Gaultier haute couture.

You made a highly commented comeback, during the last Venice Film Festival, by dressing Timothée Chalamet in a provocative bare back jumpsuit.

How did you come up with the idea for this outfit?

I have worked with Timothée for a long time.

It is above all a story of friendship that allows us to exchange and spend a lot of time together.

When he asked me to dress him for the Mostra, where he presented

, I immediately thought of red.

An appropriate color since his film is about cannibalism, but I also wanted him to almost disappear on the red carpet, so that we only see his face.

We both had fittings in front of a mirror.

At one point, by accident, Timothée found himself draped, his back revealed.

I saw her look in the mirror, and something clicked.

I said to him, "Yeah, let's have fun, you're 26, we're going to do that halter top."

On D-Day, I still doubted.

I said to Timothy, "Are you sure?"

He replied without hesitation:

(“We do it!”) And even if the

is in tune with the times, what interested me was that it reveals its back while remaining masculine in its look and look.

Of course, I also thought that if people wondered about the attitude of a man on the red carpet, we would have really succeeded in this moment…

Read alsoSexy bare back and pearl necklaces: Timothée Chalamet and Harry Styles, transgressors of clothing standards

Since 2020, fashion has seen many upheavals, including the arrival of virtual fashion shows and the metaverse.

How do you relate to all these changes?

My vision of fashion hasn't changed, it's even more assertive.

Anything virtual doesn't interest me at all.

I need to be there and really there, to feel the movement, to hear the heartbeat when the model appears on the catwalk.

As a child, I had the chance to attend John Galliano's fashion show in São Schlumberger's house.

I don't think anything can replace the emotion of a fashion show, especially not the digital world.

The world is so violent, so if we can preserve a few moments of grace, so much the better...

In video, the last Gaultier haute couture show by Jean Paul Gaultier