Jean Paul Gaultier AW26: Duran Lantink is back for round two

Photography Jamie-Maree ShiptonMarch 8, 2026Fashion / What Went DownFashion / What Went DownJean Paul Gaultier AW26: Duran Lantink is back for round two

After last season’s controversial debut – which divided critics and sent the internet into a spin – the Dutch designer returned for his sophomore show

ShareLink copied ✔️March 8, 2026March 8, 2026TextElliot HostePhotographyJamie-Maree ShiptonJean Paul Gaultier AW26

Gallery / 23 images

Even by today’s cutthroat standards – where trial by social media ensures fashion shows are dissected at a record rate – the reaction to last season’s Jean Paul Gaultier show was quite something. Last September, the Dutch designer Duran Lantink made his debut for the house, reviving a ready-to-wear line that had lain dormant for the last 11 years. On the catwalk, Lantink provoked with bulbous proportions, peculiar cutouts and trompe-l’œil bodysuits complete with realistic genitalia. While some applauded his want for disruption, many decried his apparent affront to good taste. Even Lantink himself was surprised by the reaction, saying in a recent interview, “I knew that criticism would be coming, but not necessarily in the way that it happened.”

This afternoon in Paris, Lantink returned for his sophomore collection. After the previous season’s histrionics, anticipation was arguably higher than before. But, in a complete 180 to last September’s flesh-baring antics, the designer presented a (mostly) buttoned-up offering, with full-coverage gowns and tailoring at its core. Because, ultimately, what’s more enfant terrible than doing the exact opposite of what everyone expects?

WAS THAT MACAULAY CULKIN?

Gathered together in the Montparnasse neighbourhood, this season’s guest list included the usual mix of global stars. Tyla was on the front row in a corset dress with a built-in cone bra, sat next to ex-Euphoria alum Barbie Ferreira, who wore her own all-black creation from the brand. Elsewhere, the Berlin-based artist LIA LIA chatted to Lennon Gallagher, while Naomi Watts, Tokischa, The Substance director Coralie Fargeat and Jean Paul Gaultier himself made up the rest of the frow. More unexpected, however, was the appearance of Macaulay Culkin, who posed for the cameras in his JPG shirt and showed off his sailor blue manicure.

SUBVERSIVE SUITING FILLED THE CATWALK Pin It

Jean Paul Gaultier AW26Photography Jamie-Maree Shipton

Since his brand’s inception, Jean Paul Gaultier has been famous for taking the humble suit and bending it to his will. 1980s power suits were carved into hourglass silhouettes, corsets and tailoring were expertly combined in the 90s, while pinstripe is practically synonymous with the house. It made sense, then, that Lantink started this collection with simple tailoring – a black suit underneath a long pleated overcoat – then proceeded to splice and dice it throughout the show. For the second look, the blazer had morphed into a bomber jacket hybrid, while the overcoat was now fashioned as a floor-sweeping skirt. Pinstripes soon emerged on look four, with the shirt collar yanked up and repurposed as a hood, while, on closer inspection, the trousers were overlaid with pinstripe knickers, garters and suspenders that completely blended in. Elsewhere, tailoring was fused with corsetry or remade in sporty nylon material, while the back brim of a cowboy hat jutted out and curled down to attach to the waistcoat its model was wearing.

THE COWBOY RETURNED FOR AW26 Pin It

Jean Paul Gaultier AW26Photography Jamie-Maree Shipton

Speaking of cowboy hats, this season Lantink also dabbled in another JPG reference: Western style. Gaultier explored the topic for his SS89 menswear show Western Baroque, where models strutted the runway in gold chaps and satin budgie smugglers, and also brought the cowboys back for SS09 too.

While today’s looks were a lot more pared back than Gaultier’s own, the Western references were there, and delicately coded into the clothes. Along with the aforementioned hat/vest hybrid, black cowboy hats accompanied a number of the all-black looks, leather gloves subtly recalled the rootin’, tootin’ gunslingers of yore, while another black shirt came in stealth Western mode, with two front chest pockets and epaulettes on each shoulder.

A TOUCH OF DURAN… Pin It

Jean Paul Gaultier AW26Photography Jamie-Maree Shipton

Though things were discernibly more covered up than last season, the clothes still managed to be playful and subversive in a way only Lantink knows how. The humped shoulders and engorged underwear of some looks were often indistinguishable from Lantink’s own label, while a variation of the ski jumper pattern from his AW24 collection returned on a rather restrictive halterneck top.

BUT DON’T FORGET THE GAULTIER Pin It

Jean Paul Gaultier AW26Photography Jamie-Maree Shipton

As well as the mangled tailoring and catwalk cowboys, Lantink also explored several other Gaultier touchstones. Colour-blocked trousers and blazers in a technical nylon material were a reference to Gaultier’s early, sportier collections, while the thick, stacked rings around the middle of a velvet dress recalled the piled-up necklaces of SS94’s Les Tatouages. Elsewhere, two models emerged around the halfway point, each wearing a white bodysuit with a wooden mannequin printed on it, a call back to the AW04 Les Marionnettes collection. While both the “male” and “female” mannequins wore garters and suspenders to protect their modesties, the female mannequin also wore the outline of a bra with its cups removed, which seemed to reference Madonna’s iconic bondage-inspired Gaultier look from 1992.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for more looks from the show

Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP

Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.

Thank you. You have been subscribed

Privacy policy ShareLink copied ✔️More on these topicsFashionWhat Went DownAW26WomenswearFashion WeekJean Paul GaultierDuran LantinkParisfashion-weekParis Fashion WeekMacaulay CulkinTylaBarbie Ferreira