Crazy Couture: Duran Lantink’s Couture Debut for Jean Paul Gaultier

499

Duran Lantink made his couture debut for the house of Jean Paul Gaultier this week and it was just as insane and fantastical as anyone who has been following his work at the brand (and before) could have hoped for.

The show opened simply enough with a gorgeous, sculptural black coat with an exaggerated collar and portruding hip bumps, as if the implied pelvi underneath had grown forward instead of out. It was the kind of coat you could imagine standing on it’s own without need of a hanger or human body to prop it up, like an elegant piece of slightly abstracted anatomical sculpture.

Then things got weird: a little black dress with a tuft of black tulle erupting from the chest and a cascade of white trailing out the back.  A white lace gown with an enormous  lump on one side, as if it were designed to conceal a conjoined twin.

One of Lantink’s infamous anatomical silicone tops made an appearance, this time kinked to one side as if jostled during copying.

In one dress, Lantink moved Gaultier’s famous cones from the chest to the hips, sharpening them into what looked like organza-covered thorns and exagerated the proportions of the chest and shoulders on a lace gown as if seeking to accomodate the musculature of a bodybuilder maxxing out on steroids.

A mint green mini dress featured a rear protrusion bursting with yards of burgundy tulle, as if the garment had prolapsed it’s innards like a sea cucumber escaping a predator.

While a puffy black bomber jacket featured a forward cascade of matching tulle that looked as if someone in a full-skirted maxi was attemepting to climb through an oversized glory hole.

To call the collection a spectacle would be an understatement. But in the age of social media virality, where even ready-to-wear can cost seven figures, the purpose of couture, first and foremost — and especially in the hands of Lantink — is really exploration. Experimentation. Fantasy. And, sometimes, all out insanity. Are any of the concubines of the super rich who make up the majority of couture’s customer base likely to wear a white silicone merry widow with what looks like a bed skirt-covered coffee table hanging from the bottom? No. But who cares? At least it’s interesting! Anyone can make a pretty dress, but few would dare to make the kind of clothes Lantink is making at Jean Paul Gaultier. And that kind of bravado is something to be celebrated.

Check out the rest of the collection below.