In pictures: Jean Paul Gaultier’s rarely seen runway archive

“There’s almost nothing that Jean Paul Gaultier hasn’t done,” Laird Borrelli-Persson tells me when discussing the legendary designer’s vast oeuvre. Four years ago, the author and archivist was handed the gargantuan task of documenting every single Jean Paul Gaultier show for the latest in Thames & Hudson’s Catwalk collection. Now on its tenth edition, the series is becoming as much of a cultural touchstone as the fashion it celebrates, and the addition of Gaultier to the roster uncovers hundreds of long-forgotten runway images, many published for the very first time. From the designer’s SS77 debut Biker of the Opera, to rarely seen 80s shows, iconic collections like Les Tatouages, and his final bow in 2020, every single era is accounted for, for the very first time.

Before working on the Catwalk series, Borrelli-Persson had worked with the team at Vogue Runway to digitise a small number of Gaultier’s 90s collection, however admits that “the late 70s, all of the 80s, and the rest of the 90s” cannot be found online. Not only is the book the first comprehensive volume of Gaultier’s collections, but a celebration of the importance of physical archives in a digital age. “The documentation of what has come before is terribly important. It’s not only evidence of a designer or brand’s achievements but also a record of changing societal values,” says Borrelli-Persson. “For me, it’s about showing the cycles of fashion and the aesthetic and spiritual affinities among creative people over time.”

Below, we chat to the author about what makes Gaultier such a singular designer, her favourite JPG collections, and the runaway success of the Catwalk series.

Hi Laird – firstly, when did you start working on this massive task of documenting every Gaultier show?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: Adélia Sabatini, who created the whole series reached out to me at the end of 2021. Once the arrangements had been made I had a total crisis of confidence looking at the list of shows from 1976-2020 and just froze. It took quite a while to thaw out and start at it, working on weekends, nights, and vacations.

What about Gaultier’s fashion language makes him so special and worthy of a tome like this?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: There’s almost nothing that Jean Paul Gaultier hasn’t done. His output is protean and diverse. One of the main pillars of his work is finding beauty where others did not. In 1995 you didn’t see tattoos and body piercings on the catwalk or in most magazines. We take for granted so many of the things he normalised – like street casting, size inclusivity, diversity – that were not normal at the time. Gaultier wanted to see true equality between the sexes, and to achieve that brought men into the fashion game in unprecedented ways.

Additionally, he is a trickle-up designer, who was devoted to ready-to-wear. When he finally launched couture in 1997, his collection included pieces made from upcycled jeans. The techniques he used in ready-to-wear were often translated to couture, albeit achieved in different ways, and vice versa. I was delighted to discover that Gaultier reworked existing couture garments and sent them down the runway again.

What’s your earliest memory of Gaultier and his work?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear Jean Paul Gaultier’s name is his 1990 portrait by Pierre et Gilles. He’s wearing a marinière and holding a posy of daisies, and the Eiffel Tower is visible at the back left. Gaultier always played up his Frenchness. His peroxised blond hair is clipped short and he’s in full glam. Although the reference is probably to Querelle, I can’t help thinking the designer bears some resemblance to a short-haired Madonna, to whom Gaultier proposed more than once, circa 1989. Later, I remember [Vogue contributor] Candy Pratts Price coming back from Paris with exquisitely cut Gaultier blazers. Sigh.

Romeo Gigli once told me that the day after a show, many photographers would stop by with their pictures, which would be put on a lightbox and the best ones selected

Do you have a favourite JPG collection?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: How to pick one! When it comes to ready-to-wear I have a soft spot for Louise Brooks Meets Easy Rider SS01 and AW02’s Christo Effect, which has a lot to do, in both cases, with asymmetry and draping. The staging as always was unique. For SS01 models walked in a dusty corral carrying beer cans, and the clothes came around on a dry-cleaner’s moving rack for AW02. In the course of creating the book, I discovered Gaultier’s Rap’Sisters show for SS90. Not only did the nun-like coifs some of the models wore cause a controversy, but the models – including Neneh Cherry – came up through the floor. This was decades before this was done at Dior Homme with much more advanced technology.

In writing the book, was there a particular time period or collection which proved difficult to find images and information for?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: The marvelous team at Thames & Hudson sourced the images. The early years, as might be expected, were the most difficult. I work with the physical archive team at Condé Nast to digitise archival runway shows for Vogue Runway, and a complete set of images is difficult to come by. Another challenge is securing copyright, as it’s not always clear who took the photos or where to find them. Archiving from slides is physical work, you take the photos in and out of sleeves, arrange them into an order (a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle) and clean the dust off of them before they are photographed for Web. For me, the documentation and sharing of fashion history is very important work. It proves that history pre-dates the Internet and also allows for conversations between past and present.

Before runway photos were digitised, what was the in-house process of archiving collections at JPG and fashion houses in general?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: I think this varies from brand to brand. Romeo Gigli once told me that the day after a show, many photographers would stop by with their pictures, which would be put on a lightbox and the best ones selected.

There are of course archive images of JPG catwalks on places like Vogue Runway and Getty Images, but which in this book are being published for the very first time?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: Very many. Style.com started covering JPG shows in 2000, and Vogue Runway continues to do so. I digitised some 90s collections for the site but there are the late 70s, all of the 80s, and the rest of the 90s [not on there].

Why do you think physical archives like this are so important to fashion history?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: The documentation of what has come before is terribly important. It’s not only evidence of a designer or brand’s achievements but also a record of changing societal values. And sometimes it helps give credit where credit is due, revealing the origins of a style that predates the presumed originator. For me, it’s about showing the cycles of fashion and the aesthetic and spiritual affinities among creative people over time.

The Thames & Hudson Catwalk series has become such a cultural touchstone – you see the books on shelves and coffee tables in so many homes. What does its success tell us about how people want to interact with fashion imagery in 2025?

Laird Borrelli-Persson: I think depending on who you ask the answer will vary. There’s been much discussion about younger generations’ anemoia [nostalgia for things you never knew] for the analog age. A few years ago I was told that a Danish magazine was starting to print on more expensive paper because people were starting to buy and display it like a collectible. I had never heard the name Jean Paul Gaultier in 1976, but as a Gen-Xer, I have followed his work from the 1980s. To be able to see pictures that have never before been made available, and all in one place, is awesome.

Heritage is a subject that is much discussed in fashion. I think the Catwalk series puts the person and their vision front and center. Today our industry is operating on an incredible scale and it’s all too easy to forget that there is a person behind a brand. In this case, a French man with a dream and his supportive partner Francis Menuge, making his first collection on a shoestring budget and presenting it at the Planétarium du Palais de la Découverte to an audience that numbered, at most, ten. And yet, Gaultier did not, and never will stop reaching for the stars – one of the reasons we’re still talking about him today.

Jean Paul Gaultier: Catwalk by Laird Borrelli-Perssonis is here. Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for exclusive imagery from the volume