How Jean Paul Gaultier and Jimmy Choo got naughty together

In an industry where money reigns and conglomerates continue to put cash over creativity, “Are we having fun?” might not seem like the most important question a creative director might ask themselves right before embarking on a massive project, but for Jean Paul Gaultier creative director Florence Tétier, it’s an integral one. Taking over the house of Gaultier back in 2021, Tétier has continued the OG enfant-terrible’s fashion legacy by linking up with a series of boundary-pushing designers with a proclivity for not taking it all too seriously. 

Across the course of the last two years, Tétier and her team have masterminded collaborations with everyone from rising stars like KNWLS and Ottolinger, to Y/Project and Olivier Rousteing. Perhaps the funnest of all, though, was when Tétier invited Drag Race icon and fashion chameleon Alexis Stone to transform themselves into Gaultier’s doppelganger to launch a capsule of Breton tops and tartan kilts modelled after the designer’s own unmistakable wardrobe. 

Now, Tétier debuts the latest fruits of her labour, as she joins forces with a footwear heavyweight on a bold new partnership. Step forward – in this case, quite literally – Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi. While the two brands’ values might not immediately marry up, with Jimmy Choo’s glitzy shoes the go-to for glam women across the globe and Gaultier a lot more aligned with the rebellious fringes of fashion, according to Tétier and Choi, dig a little deeper and there is a synergy – of creating powerful, statement-making clothing – that lies just under the surface. 

For Choi, the collab represented an opportunity to take Jimmy Choo into darker, more tongue-in-cheek territory. “I immediately thought ‘I just want to be a bit naughty’ and go places I would never be able to take Jimmy Choo,” she explains. “I wanted to look at the globetrotting work that Jean Paul Gaultier created, the idea of exploring people’s different identities – that excited me.” 

Among the collection are a series of kinky thigh-high boots emblazoned with archival Gaultier tattoo prints, sleek courts with campy etched Eiffel Tower glass heels, and vampy, vertiginous stilettos dripping with gaudy crystals and gold chains, half footwear, half ornate jewellery piece. “We always explore jewellery [at Jimmy Choo], but not in this way,” adds Choi. “Again, it’s another place I would never normally go.” 

With the coquettish collection completed, attention turned to the accompanying campaign, with Choi and Tétier tapping campy icon Kylie Minogue to star in a series of images and short films. Dressed head to toe in classic Gaultier looks, the musician pirouettes and prances in the heels, and lies on her back kicking her heels in the air – a crystal-encrusted sailor hat perched on her head. 

“I immediately thought ‘I just want to be a bit naughty’ and go places I would never be able to take Jimmy Choo” – Sandra Choi

And finally, to give the collection its grand debut, came a party in London last week. Hosted in the red velvet draped subterranean nooks and crannies of recently opened club the Twenty-Two, guests dripping in Gaultier mooched through the darkened hallways in styles from the offering, stiletto heels digging deep into the luxurious carpets underfoot. As the first people to slip their feet into the shoes, finally Choi and Tétier weren’t the only ones having fun with them.

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