Jean-Paul Gaultier

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Jean-Paul Gaultier's bread exhibit, Paris, 2004.

Jean-Paul Gaultier (born April 24, 1952, in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne) is a French fashion designer and past television presenter.

Gaultier never received formal training as a designer. Instead, he started sending sketches to famous couture stylists at an early age. Pierre Cardin was impressed by his talent and hired him as an assistant in 1970. His first individual collection was released in 1976 and his characteristic irreverent style dates from 1981, and he has long been known as the enfant terrible (bad boy) of French fashion. Many of Gaultier's following collections have been based on street wear, focusing on popular culture, whereas others, particularly his Haute Couture collections, are very formal yet at the same time unusual and playful. Jean-Paul Gaultier produced sculptured costumes for Madonna during the nineties and has also worked in close collboration with Wolford Hosiery. He popularized the use of skirts, especially kilts on men's wardrobe, and the release of designer collections. Gaultier caused shock by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like older men and full-figured women, pierced and heavily tattooed models, and by playing with traditional gender roles in the shows. This granted him both criticism and enormous popularity.

Gaultier also designed the wardrobe of many motion pictures, including Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Pedro Almodóvar's Kika, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's La Cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children). Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour (including the iconic cone bra) also featured his creations. He currently designs for three collections: his own couture and ready-to-wear lines, as well as the newly relaunched clothing line for Hermès, a French leather goods company well-known for their equestrian background, scarves, and expensive and difficult to obtain handbags. Most recently, Jean-Paul Gaultier designed Madonna's wardrobe for her 2006 Confessions Tour, continuing their long-standing relationship.

Gaultier has also designed a number of the costumes and outfits worn by rocker Marilyn Manson,^[1] including the outfits for Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque album.^[2] He's also well-known for his exhibit in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art known as Bravehearts - Men in Skirts.

Jean-Paul Gaultier is also known for a popular line of perfumes. His first fragrance, Classique, a women's floral-oriental, was introduced in 1993, followed by Le Mâle for men two years later. Both were highly successful, and Le Mâle is now the number-one men's fragrance in the European Union based on sales; it also holds a strong market position in Australia and the United States. His third fragrance, the women's fragrance Fragile, was introduced in 2000; however, it is now in limited distribution due to poor sales. In 2005, the unisex "fragrance for humanity" Gaultier² (pronounced Gaultier to the power of two) was launched (except in Canada, where it was launched in January 2006, and the United States, where it was launched in August 2006). A new men's fragrance, Fleur du Male, will be launched worldwide in April 2007. All Jean-Paul Gaultier perfumes are produced under a long-term license by Paris-based Beaute Prestige International, a division of the Japanese company Shiseido that also produces fragrances for Narciso Rodriguez and Issey Miyake.

Gaultier also co-presented the first six series of Eurotrash.