And so, to the couture debut of Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier. The designer has been creating ready-to-wear shock and awe at the house with his radical approach to silhouette and devil-may-care catwalk confidence. He brought that renegade attitude to Couture. Lantink was inspired by the original French fashion icon, Marie Antoinette, who perfected the art of dominating a room with her elaborate panniered gowns. Models with courtly ribbons in their hair stalked the catwalk, but this was no historical costume romp.

Lantink explained he wanted to “Combine historical pieces with pieces that feel quite futuristic to me.” A black gown, viewed head-on followed a classic ballgown silhouette, but the side view was a radical combination of large tubular forms spouting tulle. Flamingo pink feathered tubes orbited the bodice of one gown. Another panniered gown, rippled with a multitude of mille-feuille layers of fabric. The designer was referencing the bold volumes and tubular shapes of costumes JPG had designed for a ballet in 1986.

Lantink audaciously combined craft and technology. A 3D-printed, bell-shaped dress was hand flocked and then embroidered with lace in the atelier. One white snake-scale dress was made of thousands of individually 3D-printed scales, all hand embroidered on. “It has this very ASMR sound when you walk,” said the designer.

Riffing on Gaultier’s famous corsets, Lantink sent out an almost robotic version, in angular rust coloured leather (created in collaboration with leather specialists Whitaker Malem). Lantink also referenced his own torso tops, taking a mould of the model Leon Dame’s chest then manipulating it into a new rippling sideways distortion.

The Duraniverse is a mind altering, shape bending, perception shifting space that exists somewhere between this world and another planet. And it’s thrilling to behold. “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” said Jean Paul Gaultier to Lantink backstage. With the great designer noting that the volumes were “tres couture.” Enough said.

jeanpaulgaultier.com