Olivier Rousteing and Jean Paul Gaultier: "Being popular and pop is what goes through time"

Since announcing his retirement from fashion in 2020, Jean Paul Gaultier has chosen to invite a designer each season to interpret his codes for an exclusive haute couture collection.

On July 6, at 6 p.m., Olivier Rousteing, Balmain's high-profile artistic director, will present his vision of Gaultier.

A declaration of passion.

Read alsoWhen Balmain goes into jewelry

Each in their own way – and sometimes in marinière – Jean Paul Gaultier and Olivier Rousteing pushed back the executives of their time.

Their work has reflected and encouraged sociological developments, promoting openness to the diversity of all beauties.

Pioneers in terms of communication with, for one, legendary fashion shows and provocative campaigns, and, for the other, a mise en abyme of his life as a testimony to the news, they engage in a dialogue that takes us beyond the fashion.

Impertinence, fluidity ahead of time, fight against stereotypes, militant and decompartmentalized fashion, they embraced pop culture, and encouraged everyone to express themselves.

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Impertinence, fight against stereotypes, militant and open-ended fashion, Jean Paul Gaultier like Olivier Rousteing have embraced pop culture, and encouraged everyone to express themselves.

Alexandre Isard

Three weeks before the presentation of this collection which arouses all curiosity, we meet at Gaultier's headquarters these two emblematic creators of a French Couture who prefers extravagance to propriety.

Olivier Rousteing emerges in an oversized suit on sailor top, union of the two universes.

One uses the respectful formal address, the other the warm familiarity, a cultural generation separates them, but their mutual respect creates an atmosphere rich in human stories.

Jean Paul Gaultier receives his successor for a season in his salons, a benevolent, witty, relaxed "retired".

Olivier Rousteing met one of the models who built his imagination, to whom he already felt close when he saw him in books and on television.

Coming back from

an appointment with a supplier and juggling between several collections, the young man still vibrates with the tension that dresses the days preceding the parades.

Between laughter and modest testimonies of admiration, they talk about fashion, their world.

Madame Figaro.– Tell us about the genesis of this

collection.– When I decided to stop doing fashion, I had the idea of ​​inviting a new designer each season who would interpret the Gaultier style, but in his own way.

To create a continuation, to bring a youthful touch, a transmission.

The first time was with a woman, Chitose Abe, the creator of Sacai, which fitted well because I had points in common with the spirit of certain Japanese designers.

Then there was Glenn Martens, who had been an intern with me and whose work at Y/Project I find very interesting.

I was overjoyed when I discovered the collection, I felt like I had had a facelift

.

With these collaborations Gaultier continues in a spirit of consistency.

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Since announcing his retirement from fashion in 2020, Jean Paul Gaultier has chosen to invite a designer each season to interpret his codes for an exclusive Couture collection.

This season it is Olivier Rousteing who is reinventing Gaultier.

Alexandre Isard

Why did you choose Olivier Rousteing?

Olivier, it was obvious among young French designers.

I admire his work.

I didn't dare to call him directly, because I'm too shy and I hate the phone.

I like, when I talk to someone, to see their reactions.

I was afraid of being refused

No, it's impossible!

Even though I quit fashion, I still watch what's going on, and I follow your collections.

I particularly adored the way you had of revamping the embroideries, when you started out, I'm thinking of a magnificent collection which was all khaki, with safari jackets reviewed and corrected by you.

I feel your passion, your attachment to this work, to this profession that we love.

It's not just to be known: it's so that we can express ourselves through clothing.

Designing a haute couture collection in this iconic house was a childhood dream, a designer's dream

Olivier Rousteing

Olivier, when the request came to you, how did you receive it and what motivated you?

Jean Paul, I was extremely touched when you announced that you were stopping fashion.

I then learned the news of the collaboration with Sacai, and from that moment I hoped that one day you would call me.

In no case could I have said no, except to fear not being up to it.

Designing a haute couture collection in this iconic house was a childhood dream, a designer's dream.

It is impossible to approach the work with this house as a simple collaboration, it is beyond fashion: it is an institution, a heritage that affects several generations.

It's as if we entered a sacred monument, wondering what we have the right to touch, and what we do not have the right to touch.

This does

What would be your artistic filiation?

I think Jean Paul and I are not afraid of words.

The most interesting challenge today in this collection, and knowing that each designer has their own emotions, is to achieve a tribute.

During the parade I will think a lot about the reactions of Monsieur Gaultier, seated in the front row.

That's what I think about, every time I do a fitting: I wonder what Jean Paul will say.

Yes, I reinterpret his codes, but I want him to be proud of having entrusted me with the keys during these few months.

We are always inspired by others.

Me, I mixed the street and couture, allowing people to dress without denying themselves.

It is important for me to remember that today we are still in pursuit of a revolution, and that everything we undertake today is a continuity.

Many people claim to be avant-garde, especially in a politically correct society.

Today each house appropriates the subjects of inclusivity, the street, diversity, sustainability, to say that it also has a purpose.

But you only touch people if you are sincere, in the context of an authentic battle, carrying real emotion.

In this sense, we can say that Jean Paul Gaultier is a popular designer.

For me, that's the real success of fashion: not staying between four walls.

Being popular and pop is what transcends time.

I mixed the street and the couture, allowing people to dress without denying themselves

jean paul Gaultier

What brings you together in this collection?

Jean Paul Gaultier is everywhere, but this collection will be a surprise, I hope.

What sets us apart?

Not much actually.

In terms of similarities, there is this notion of self-confidence through clothing, a love for embroidery and a very structured side, but which can be totally light.

I think we're both in love with tailoring, and the deconstruction of tailoring.

When I arrived I consulted all the archives.

Take a Jean Paul Gaultier jacket: it can become a dress, be worn inside out, it can be worn over and under, nothing is guaranteed of what you see.

It's something that I've always liked in fashion.

What also binds us is

sewing.

Jean Paul Gaultier has achieved something magnificent in this way.

He broke the codes of the marinière, a very French symbol.

We remember the Male campaign, which for me was not just a perfume, but a gender revolution, a sex revolution.

I also try to break the codes of the genre, but that was done long before, and in harsher circumstances.

You are a pop designer, in every sense of the word.

You have become an icon more than a designer, in the best sense of the term.

Culturally speaking, you are the emblem of many revolutions.

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For Olivier Rousteing, the most interesting challenge in this collection, “is to make a success of a tribute”.

Alexandre Isard

Olivier Rousteing, what did this haute couture experience represent for you?

I found in Jean Paul Gaultier a know-how that goes beyond anything I have known.

I who thought I was pushing the limits, I had access with these teams to an unimaginable level of expertise.

It's just because I'm older!

But I still want to say that I saw in your last collection elements that are really in the domain of couture, a mixture of drapes with kinds of cuirass, which require great mastery.

You too have the technique, and by your will, you manage to get what you want.

You have, each in your own way, acted to bring diversity into fashion…

I come from a modest background, and I was lucky to have very open parents.

When I was a kid, my grandmother must have had the intuition of my homosexuality, because she had put a book in my hands, the story of two men.

I must have been 14 years old, all that was not yet very clear in my head.

It was her way of telling me that she would always be there, that she would love me no matter what, and that she accepted.

A few years later, when I announced to my parents, "here I am with a boy", they said to me: "do you love each other?", I said yes, they answered me: "well , It's okay".

It's true that I had this chance, and it opens up the possibilities.

During my career I paraded different women, beauties that

we were less used to seeing, and there is one thing that still remains to be done, because it remains a taboo, and that is the elderly.

You have to show that it's like jeans that are getting old, the skin that is washed out, it can be very beautiful too, with new drapes

.

Who have been your female role models?

My grandmother, who was a nurse.

When she received her patients, and she also gave them beauty tips, or advice on how to keep their husbands.

She encouraged them to surprise.

It had to do with loving: the idea of ​​making an effort, of caring about the other person.

She tackled psychological questions, and of course the relationship between beauty and clothing.

She explained that you have to pay attention to yourself, the importance of the gaze of the other, and that you can act to establish links.

I would say, me too, my grandmother.

She was very flirtatious, she wore makeup, she cut her hair very short and she wore stockings.

She was very fashionable for the time.

I remember she was obsessed with Saint Laurent tuxedos, owned a few Chanel bags, and mixed it all up really well.

At one time, she was always in Jean Paul Gaultier.

When I started to feel the love of fashion, around 15 or 16 years old, she was already wearing the sailor top with holes with the heart in macramé.

She was a completely crazy grandmother: we went to the opera in the evening, she wore a boa, we laughed a lot.

She handed me her little binoculars to watch the dancers closely.

She was awesome.

In terms of style and taste, she inspired me a lot.

L'

another woman who contributed a lot to my outlook on fashion was my best friend in high school, Claire, who I am still close to.

We were both fashion fans, we started shopping together.

I will forever remember his first purchase, JPG jeans with a completely deconstructed jacket.

We inspired each other, until the day we took different directions.

It was easier for me to love fashion with her, because on my own, I would have been judged, in my very conservative Bordeaux high school.

Dressing her was for me a way to love fashion.

She was my muse.

I will forever remember his first purchase, JPG jeans with a completely deconstructed jacket.

We inspired each other, until the day we took different directions.

It was easier for me to love fashion with her, because on my own, I would have been judged, in my very conservative Bordeaux high school.

Dressing her was for me a way to love fashion.

She was my muse.

I will forever remember his first purchase, JPG jeans with a completely deconstructed jacket.

We inspired each other, until the day we took different directions.

It was easier for me to love fashion with her, because on my own, I would have been judged, in my very conservative Bordeaux high school.

Dressing her was for me a way to love fashion.

She was my muse.

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Accomplices, the two creators share the same freedom and audacity.

Alexandre Isard

You are champions of innovative communication.

What do you think of the hegemony of social networks?

You can't say that I really took over social networks, but I made a record!

It wasn't sung, it was an interview luckily, because I don't have a voice.

It was especially the linked video that interested me, it allowed me to work for the first time with Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

But there were also parades at the time.

Kenzo had already done incredible shows in the 70s, just like Mugler afterwards.

I have never sought to be controversial or rebellious in the way I communicate.

I just tried to be honest, as much as I can be.

When I started using social networks, it was because I found certain magazines too “divisive”.

Therefore, I used social media at the time to feel free to say, "There, I'm an adopted child, I'm half-Ethiopian, half-Somali, my life is to be a designer, but I don't spend my life in glitter, I can cry at night, I can eat McDo, I'm just a normal human being”.

I chose to accompany my time, I expressed myself on Twitter, on Instagram.

At the same time, there was the relationship to music and pop culture, which allowed me to show

I could work with Beyoncé, with Kim Kardashian who was decried at the time, and who finally today is completely consensual.

In 2014 Rihanna did my campaign, and some people asked me if it was really "luxury"?

I found myself confronted with questions that for me were not relevant.

I always wanted to be the witness of my time.

I need to be anchored in my present to better understand the future.

Our role is to break down the walls, to tell people not to be afraid.

Read alsoOlivier Rousteing in search of his origins in a poignant documentary broadcast on Netflix

What did you learn from this experience?

Already, today I learned more things about you, and I look forward to the day when I will see the collection.

I liked talking with someone who has a vision and an enthusiasm, who lives with this profession, by this profession, for this profession.

Someone ultimately very close to me.

It's not that I want to see a reflection of myself, it's the pleasure of meeting a partner, a look, an accomplice.

Me, I learned that in any marriage it is good to agree small infidelities.

Married ten years with Balmain, this fleeting infidelity does me a lot of good, because I was the Balmain baby when I started at 23, and Balmain is my baby today.

The Jean Paul Gaultier house brought me a lot professionally, because it is the realm of know-how.

I come out even stronger.

I liked talking with someone who has a vision and an enthusiasm, who lives with this profession, by this profession, for this profession

jean paul Gaultier

What do you want in fashion?

That it continue in its role, which consists of reflecting society and its developments, and that it maintain its mission of anticipation.

Fashion is life, we find it in everything.

Fashion is time changing and passing.

It will always continue, perhaps in other forms, adapting itself, following the movements of the world.

I would say fashionable to be free.

To challenge taboos.

I want fashion to never back down from the unknown, and to continue exploring universes that don't belong to it.