I’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to include Gaultier’s “Les Rock Stars” collection of Fall/Winter 1987 on this blog, and thanks to my friend Eric on Instagram, I can. Eric frequently sends me links to Junior Gaultier products on resale websites that I can rarely afford, or I ask him to identify the collection of a specific Gaultier item. He’s a mine of Gaultier information and very interesting to talk to, so I asked him if I could publish a Q&A on this blog.
Q. I’m not familiar with your professional background; have you ever worked in fashion?
For about 15 years, I did store and visual fashion design for Magnin and Macy’s. When I was 20, I was with a modelling agency and was sent to Munich to an agency that had just opened there called Luisa. I stayed for about a year and went on a couple of “go-sees“ and then ended up meeting very nice people who would invite me out to parties and events all the time. It was very nice being that age and getting to do all these things, and no one ever tried to take advantage of me. I had a friend who was going to the University of Maryland in Munich, and I lived in the student dormitories with him (and everyone just assumed I was a student. I was over six feet tall and only weighed 129 pounds, which wasn’t the look back then. I didn’t get to model at any real shows until I was 26. The first was Versace.
Q. What’s the first piece of Gautier you remember buying? And when was it?
The first purchase was two things, fall 1985, an embroidered and beaded black bolero jacket that I’d seen a few celebrities wearing, and a purple sweater with woven black trim and designs flocked on in black velvet. I still have them both, oh, and there was a coat from the same season in black with quilted lapels and applied black ribbon.
Q. What is special about Gaultier to you? And is there one particular item that you feel epitomises Gaultier’s style?
Gaultier made me feel that was the way I should look; I never felt like it wore me. One of the nicest compliments I remember back then was a guy who worked in a store in San Francisco who said, “I like the way you wear your Gaultier, it’s so relaxed”. I loved the colors that Gaultier chose as well.
Q. You have quite literally got a treasure chest of jewellery, belts and even codpieces from the “Les Rock Stars” collection of Fall/Winter 1987. How often do you get to wear them?
I wear the belts almost every day. I’m lucky to have a few friends who like to go out to galleries and restaurants that will dress, so it’s nice to wear the things then. When it was all new, it was a bit more fun as so many people tried to be individual.
Q. Which of the many rock stars who have worn Gaultier over the years wears it the best? Pete Burns could be my favourite, as he has worn items from the Rock Stars and Western Baroque collections.
I think Sade used to look beautiful in Gaultier. In the music video for “Is it a Crime?” she wore a jacket from Gaultier’s ‘Le Charme Coincé de la Bourgeoisie Fall/Winter 1985 collection and a top from the same collection whilst performing “Is it a Crime?” live at the 11th season of SNL.
The lead singer, Martin Fry, and guitarist Mark White from ABC in the video for “The Night You Murdered Love” looked great in “The Rock Stars“ collection. Jim Kerr, the lead singer of the rock band Simple Minds, wore some great pieces. And Pete Burns in “Save You all My Kisses” is great, I have that whole outfit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dra8WN-JCIE
Q. Gaultier’s next collection, “Modern Retros” of Spring/Summer 1988, introduced the Junior Gaultier label, which featured a cropped leather jacket favoured by the rockstars of the time, including Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) and David Gahan (Depeche Mode). Was the Junior line ever on your radar, and if so, are there any standout pieces from the label?
The first Junior item I ever got was a black denim jacket with a fishnet back. I used to have a couple of great t-shirts that had these rubber emblems on the chest, but they eventually crumbled off. I had a rubber belt with big coins that had stars in the center, and a pair of suspenders. I bought both the black and the white long-sleeved X-ray print T-shirts and still have them. They were $80 back then.
Q. Talking of codpieces, Gaultier was quoted as saying ‘Except for the medieval codpiece and the bra, garments have never had a gender”. I loved the “gender benders” of the 80s, such as Boy George, Prince, and Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, who wore bras. With more people becoming aware of gender diversity, do you think that dressing androgynously is more accessible now, and can you envisage a world where genderless clothing is the norm?
I think certain things are genderless depending on how they’re worn. That’s what I loved about Gaultier’s men’s skirt trousers and men’s skirts. To me, they never looked like drag. I think it’s interesting how you see more people now dressing in things that are not common. It’s nice that people can choose to be what they want to be; it’s so much better now. Everyone needs to realize that how other people choose to look and dress does not affect them.
Q. Do you think Gaultier’s collections from the ‘80s are still relevant and wearable today? (The jacket Souvenirs de Vacances with sunglasses attached to the arms wouldn’t have been wearable back in the day!)
I think most of the ‘80s pieces are wearable now, especially since it’s coming around again for people to seek out vintage. It’s really much more individual and rarer now to own those things, especially if they are in good shape. I like to say that back then, there were people who saved all their money and then really wore those things to death, and people with money who just wore them a few times. I’ve taken such good care of mine. So many things he did were not dry cleanable; if you did, they disintegrated, or if cleaned improperly, were just ruined.
But I think the leather jacket with the sunglasses was wearable, the pants with them down the back weren’t!
I went to 1992’s amFAR (The American Foundation for AIDS Research) show in Los Angeles and all the stars modelled Gaultier, including Billy Idol, who had that whole sunglasses outfit on. I still have the pass, invite, and the T-shirt that I was given at the event.
Q. Jean Paul Gaultier no longer uses rotating designers for ready-to-wear, but obviously thought that some collections were still relevant, due to the collaborations with Y/Project, KNWLS, and Sacia. What are your feelings on bringing complete archives back to life, especially when some of the ready-to-wear collections were exact copies of the originals?
I really wish he would do some exact copies of some old things. Some of the T-shirts from ‘87 and ‘88 are amazing. So many things he did back then would be cost-prohibitive now or just be too expensive for most people.
Q. Jean Paul Gaultier has recently dropped the Spring/Summer 2026 ready-to-wear “Junior” collection. It’s Duran Lantink’s debut collection in a permanent position for Jean Paul Gaultier, and I wondered what you thought of it.
I thought the recent show was mostly a disaster! With such archives to mine, there could’ve been so many things to update and present. However, I did like two or three things: the tribal print done on sheer fabric that had a 3-dimensional feeling to part of it, the sheer body suit with tattoos, and the large belt buckle. I’d probably buy the men’s nude body suit just to have it, if it wasn’t too high a price. I just wish it wasn’t such a hairy print!
Q. Would you ever wear a pair of Gaultier Crocs?
I was kind of interested in the Crocs collaboration until I saw them. I thought if anyone could make them interesting, he could. I was wrong!
Q. Do you think the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion house continues to influence fashion today?
I do think that it influences fashion today. It’s interesting how a new collection sells out, especially since it’s so expensive.