Jean Paul Gaultier Biography

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

Born in Acueil, a self-contained, working class suburb of Paris in 1952, of a bookkeeper farther and secretary mother John Paul Gaultier was an only child. In the 1960 as a teenager John Paul was obsessed with fashion especially the costumes from Moulin Rouge and often pretended to be ill to stay off school, draw and have gay fantasies of men wearing feminine clothes. During this time Jean Paul Gaultier began detailed drawings of whole collections including accessories taking inspiration from Yves Saint Laurens and Christian Dior, and after designing clothes for his mother, he sent off his designs to fashion houses around Paris.

At the age of 18 years although still at school Jean Paul Gaultier went to work for Pierre Cardina, where he stayed for eight months but learnt a great deal about fashion and designing. He continued to learn throughout the seventies working for Jean Patou and other fashion houses returning to work for Pierre Cardin in the Philippines where he designed for Imelda Marcos. He returned to Paris and visited London where the unisex fashion was an inspiration. His first collection was for Paul Rottenberg Vision. He spent time designing ready to wear clothes and spent a year in the Philippines after which he wanted to do something unique and in 1976 he had his first show under his own name, set up on a shoestring budget. He had four more collections and although he had a following he was not making any money. Luckily he collaborated with Domanique Emschweiller and Kashiyama for the Japanese market put on shows from 1978, which were a success.

In the eighties Jean Paul Gaultier became noticed internationally, he stopped being the new outrageous talent and became a noted figure, He soon became a fashion personality and by 1984 he was established, well known for designs which incorporate underwear as outerwear, and men in skirts. He won the French fashion Oscar Award in 1987. In 1988 he brought out his jewellery line.

In 1993 Jean Paul Gaultier launched his perfume, designed all the costumes for films including Fifth Element, brought out a book based on his life story in comic form and co presented the TV series Eurotrash.