Okay, so I was clearing out some old stuff the other day, you know, magazines, bits and pieces. Came across an advert for one of those Jean Paul Gaultier perfumes, the ones shaped like a body. It kinda stopped me. I see that name around, but I realised I didn’t actually know the story. Who actually created Jean Paul Gaultier? Was it just him? A big company? Had to look it up.
Turns out, yeah, it was the man himself, Jean Paul Gaultier, who kicked it all off. Found out he started his own fashion label way back. His first runway show was in Paris, like, around 1976. Pretty bold move to just start your own thing like that back then.
Getting it Off the Ground
But he wasn’t totally alone doing it. Reading up, I saw he had help, a partner, Francis Menuge. Seems like they were both really key in actually setting up the Jean Paul Gaultier brand as a proper business. Makes sense, you usually need someone else involved when you’re starting something big.
Then I saw another date mentioned, 1982, for founding the actual label ‘officially’. Things can get a bit fuzzy with dates. Maybe ’76 was the first show, the creative start, and ’82 was making it a solid company? Anyway, late 70s, early 80s, that’s when it properly got going. They added perfumes later on too, I think around ’93.
The Stuff Everyone Remembers
You think Gaultier, you think memorable looks, right? The corsets are a big one. Saw that his idea wasn’t about them being uncomfortable old things, but making them powerful, super sexy items. Like taking back control, kinda cool twist on it.
- Making underwear look like normal clothes.
- Always using those sailor stripes, the Breton ones.
- Just generally shaking things up.
It wasn’t all just crazy stuff either. Found out he was the main designer for Hermès for a good while, from like 2003 to 2010. That’s a really posh, traditional French brand. Shows he could do that high-end luxury thing too, not just the edgy designs.
So, yeah, that’s what I figured out from just seeing that old perfume ad. It really was started by Jean Paul Gaultier, with his partner Francis Menuge, building it up from the late 70s and early 80s. Just a bit of fashion background I finally got around to checking.
