Jean Paul Gaultier loves a good collab. Back in 2022, the label’s ready-to-wear arm tapped Y/Project for a specially designed capsule, with Glenn Martens splashing some classic tromp l’oeil bodies across denim, blazers and miniskirts. Up next was KNWLS, which took its signature strappy mesh and covered it with the label’s fabled tattoo print. Now, JPG has just revealed US designer Shayne Oliver is stepping up to the plate for its next capsule collection launching 6 May (the night of the Met Gala, no less).
The designer is said to have drawn inspiration from Gaultier’s status as the enfant terrible of French fashion in the 90s, creating a capsule collection that combines both critique and couture. “I didn’t want the collection to be about swag-ifying something high brow,” Oliver told BOF in an interview today. “It felt more organic for me to critique the things I find important in the modern wardrobe, and amplify that.” Oliver’s critique of the modern wardrobe will include approximately 50 items featuring bumsters, gauze, wide-leg denim and logos from imaginary labels like GLTR Sportswear.
Elsewhere in the interview, Oliver said that the collection was made to be worn “from couture to the bedroom,” and was also inspired by “utilitarianism, femininity, power and play.” Oliver engaging with these codes makes perfect sense, as Gaultier’s interrogation of these ideas – especially femininity – has always been integral to the brand. Back in 2013, Gaultier told Dazed “when I cast models I love to show a variety of women… I don’t want to have just one specific image of a woman in my shows, I want to present what really exists,” so it will be interesting to see how Oliver updates this for a 2024 collection.
The JPG capsule also marks Oliver’s newest work since his Berlin Fashion Week debut this February. Designing for the Shayne Oliver Group sub-label Anonymous Club, Oliver populated a disused German shopping mall with models in prosthetic muscles, full-body hazmats and jogging bottoms hiked up to their clavicles.
Over at JPG things have been similarly busy, with a newly released TRÉS GAULTIER campaign starring Tokischa, plus the announcement of Nicolas Di Felice as the next guest designer of the label’s couture division.
Jean Paul Gaultier X Shayne Oliver capsule collection is launching May 6 in New York City