Jean Paul Gaultier “JUNIOR” By Duran Lantink: A New Era Of Freedom

A new heartbeat pulses through the house of Jean Paul Gaultier. For Spring Summer 2026, the brand’s Ready-to-Wear line returns under the daring hand of Duran Lantink, who makes his debut with a collection titled “JUNIOR.” It’s both a resurrection and a rebellion — a revival of the iconic Junior Gaultier spirit that first captivated him decades ago.

“JUNIOR” is more than a name. It’s a manifesto. A celebration of the unruly energy, nightlife exuberance, and sensual freedom that defined the original Junior Gaultier line of 1988–1994 — now reimagined through Lantink’s disruptive, progressive lens.

A Dialogue Between Two Generations of Rebellion

Duran Lantink’s vision is built on instinct — “fun, energetic, modern, urgent, alive.” Over months of what he calls “Duranification,” pieces are made, twisted, reinvented, or left to disappear. The result is a living conversation between the house’s founder and its new interpreter: a creative exchange where Gaultier’s irreverent codes meet Lantink’s fearless experimentation.

Marinière stripes distort into optical illusions. Dysmorphic tailoring redefines proportion — skirts fly, shoulders vanish. The signature tattoo-on-mesh motif inflates into sculptural 3D. And across torsos, glittering trompe l’oeil anatomy prints shimmer under runway lights.

The palette — burgundy, mustard yellow, sky blue, and grey — pulses with unmistakable Gaultier DNA, framed by dazzling jewelry that catches both memory and motion.

The RoXY Influence: Amsterdam’s Wild Soul

A thread of nostalgia runs through the chaos. Lantink drew inspiration from “Het RoXY Archief, 1988–1999,” the photo anthology documenting Amsterdam’s legendary nightclub RoXY — a temple of hedonism and artistic rebellion.

RoXY was anarchic, sweaty, stylish without trying. Jean Paul Gaultier himself was a guest there; Lantink, too young to enter, absorbed its myth. Today, he channels that energy — the spirit of a generation that lived fashion as freedom.

Sound and Sensation

Poet and artist John Giorno adds another layer to the experience. His hypnotic spoken-word pieces underscore the JUNIOR show soundtrack — meditative yet pulsing, poetic yet subversive. “It’s like being transported into someone else’s thought process,” Lantink notes. “I love it.”

A Memory, A Future

Presented in the basement of Musée du Quai Branly, surrounded by echoes of global cultures, “JUNIOR” feels like déjà vu and prophecy at once. The atmosphere: intimate, immersive, charged.
Lantink likens it to “catching a whiff of Le Male on your bed pillow — the giddy reminder of what happened last night.”It’s nostalgia made electric.

A New Freedom Begins

“JUNIOR” signals not just a new chapter for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Ready-to-Wear, but a rebirth of creative independence. It’s playful yet precise, rebellious yet refined — exactly what the house of Gaultier has always stood for.

It’s not called JUNIOR for nothing.