Today, via Vogue, Supreme announces its latest designer collaboration: Jean Paul Gaultier. Following in the footsteps of designers who similarly need no introduction—Thom Browne (2010), Rei Kawakubo (2012) and Kim Jones during the final leg of his tenure as men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton (2017)—Gaultier sees it as a natural continuation of his fashion house’s story.
“I have been including elements of sportswear in my collections from the very beginning,” Gaultier tells Vogue. “It has been one of my codes and my obsessions, I even developed a line ‘Junior Gaultier’ at the end of the 1980s [with that focus].” He continues, “With Supreme, this inspiration will find its way to a new generation.”
Throughout his career, Gaultier has merged the worlds of fashion and performance: designing costumes for the Ballet Preljocaj production of Snow White and Luc Besson’s film The Fifth Element; dressing a roster of famous actresses from Nicole Kidman to Cate Blanchett and Marion Cotillard, who in 2008 collected her Best Actress Oscar for La Vie En Rose in a white, mermaid-like gown of his design; and last year he even put his own life to music for his Fashion Freak Show (a hybrid revue-cum-fashion show in Paris).
Most iconic of all though, he created the costumes, including those conical bra bodices, worn by Madonna for her 1990 Blond Ambition tour. And it’s this era of his ready-to-wear archive that Gaultier has chosen to revisit for his Supreme collaboration, making it all the more fitting that Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon is modelling the collection in the first-seen photos, shot by Collier Schorr, alongside the artist Sancheeto.
Lourdes Leon in Supreme x Jean Paul Gaultier. Photograph: Collier Schorr
Bold tailoring with exaggerated shoulders for women is juxtaposed with men’s gender-blending faux fur coats in blue and red check. Gaultier is also using the opportunity to send out a powerful message to Supreme’s 12.5 million Instagram followers—perhaps as a riposte to the 17 per cent rise in hate crimes seen in the US in recent years—by reviving his ‘Fight Racism’ T-shirts.
Since it was established in 1994 by James Jebbia, Supreme has built its reputation as the king of fashion collaborations. Aside from designers, the skatewear brand has previously worked with other athletic-wear labels (North Face, Oakley, Nike), artists (Kaws, Jeff Koons, George Condo) photographers (Martha Cooper), musicians (The Clash, Public Enemy), film directors (Ralph Bakshi) and food and drinks companies (Campbell’s, Coca Cola, Budweiser).
The products of these partnerships are a rarity in ready-to-wear fashion—they tend to increase rather than decrease in value. The resale price for a pair of Supreme x Nike Air Force 1 High, which retailed for $150 in 2014, sits at around $650, while Supreme x Louis Vuitton denim jackets are selling for more than double their original £1000 retail price. Most eye-watering of all though was a collection of all of the 248 skateboard decks made by Supreme between 1998 and 2018, including those featuring artworks by Koons and Condo, which went for a record-breaking $800,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in January.
Having ceased his RTW line in 2014 to focus on couture, the Supreme x Gaultier collaboration presents a rare opportunity to own a piece from the original enfant terrible of fashion that won’t set you back tens of thousands of pounds.
The Supreme x Jean Paul Gaultier collection hits Supreme stores worldwide and online at Supremenewyork.com on 11 April, with more details to follow before then, so stay tuned.
Also read:
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How powerful are designer collaborations?
The post Exclusive: Jean Paul Gaultier is Supreme’s latest collaborator appeared first on VOGUE India.
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