Fashion’s original provocateur, Jean Paul Gaultier, remains as outspoken and visionary as ever. Following Duran Lantink’s daring debut ready-to-wear collection for the house, reactions from the fashion world were polarized. Some hailed Lantink’s work as a fresh continuation of Gaultier’s rebellious legacy, while others deemed it too provocative—particularly a bodysuit printed with the image of a nude, hairy male body modeled by a woman.

Duran Lantink and Jean Paul Gaultier share a post-show embrace. JUSTIN SHIN

Amid the online debate, Gaultier, 73, spoke with Vogue Runway to share his thoughts on the controversy, the show’s spirit, and his own legacy. “It reminded me of my early days—the same energy, the same refusal to conform,” he said. “People forget that I was once the enfant terrible too. What Duran did wasn’t a copy—it was an evolution.”

Gaultier recalled his own beginnings, when innovation was born from necessity. “I had no money,” he laughed. “So I used what I found—cat food cans as bracelets, garbage bags for dresses. It was recycling before anyone called it that.” His early collections shocked traditional critics but captured the imagination of international audiences, especially in London and Japan.

Reflecting on Lantink’s show, Gaultier praised his successor’s fearlessness: “He reinterpreted my codes—nudity, humor, gender play—but gave them his own texture. He made it louder, hairier, bolder.”

The designer also looked back on his own history of scandal and social commentary—from the corseted women of the ’80s to the gender-fluid silhouettes that redefined masculinity. “When I made men objects of desire, it was about equality,” he said. “If women could be seen as objects, why not men too? It was about freedom—about choice.”

Despite decades of pushing boundaries, Gaultier insists he never sought shock for its own sake. “I didn’t want to provoke,” he said. “I just captured the spirit of the time.” Whether recycling trash into couture or blurring lines between genders and cultures, his work has always mirrored the world around him.

Now, watching Lantink carry the torch, Gaultier feels a sense of renewal. “His collection made me emotional,” he admitted. “It brought back the excitement of when I first began. Fashion changes, but that creative spark—that need to say something—never disappears.”