It’s a shame that Nigeria didn’t qualify for this year’s World Cup, but team goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is keeping busy. Last weekend, the German-Nigerian footballer was spotted hanging out with F1 driver Kimi Antonelli at Silverstone, before hopping on the Eurostar and making his Paris Fashion Week debut this afternoon.  

Attending the Jean Paul Gaultier AW26 couture show, Okoye swapped his team kit for a teal denim set, before taking a seat between Cardi B and Amanda Lear – now there’s an unexpected trio. The goalie’s first frow appearance comes after going viral on TikTok for, well, possessing a lethal facecard, so it’s no surprise that he’s got the fashion industry’s attention. 

Before the show began, we managed to grab a quick chat with Okoye. Turns out, he thinks the key ingredient to being hot is simply “good looks”. How about who he's rooting for in the World Cup? “I was rooting for Germany, but unfortunately we are out already, so I think I’ll go with France,” he confessed. 

From 2015 onwards, Gaultier has shown only haute couture collections. When he retired in 2020, he announced a rotating-designer structure, in which creative directors from around the world were invited to design a couture collection under the legendary designer’s name. Over the past five years, we’ve seen a broad range of JPG interpretations from the likes of Simone Rocha, Olivier Rousteing, Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Glenn Martens, but today it was the turn of the new, permanent creative director, Duran Lantink. 

This show marked Lantink’s third at the brand and debut couture collection. American model Selena Forrest kicked things off in a relatively tame look (for Lantink at least), wearing a tailored, knee-length navy coat, plus neon yellow socks and matching heels. Then the real drama began. Almost every following look was closer to a sculpture than an evening gown. 

Lantink played with silhouettes, adding giant cylinders to the bust and behind, and allowing plumes of tulle to tumble out of them – like pulling bedsheets out the washing machine. More tubular shapes followed, along with spherical dresses that took the shape of upsidedown lightbulbs. If Maduka Okoye wears one of these on the pitch he’ll be sure to save a few goals.