Jean-Paul Gaultier is an iconic French fashion designer of clothing and perfumes.

His work is distinguished by his attention to hand-crafting, witty details, gender-bending, and culture-crossing designs. His ever-present sense of humor finds him often visiting the crossroads where kitsch and couture collide. Gaultier's collections frequently draw from pop culture inspirations, and historic or literary themes.

Jean Paul Gaultier grew up in Arcueil, France. His father was an accountant and his mother worked as a secretary. He was their only child.

In his youth, he spent a great deal of time with his maternal grandmother, a woman he credits a great deal for his lively imagination and creativity. In a recent interview with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Gaultier recalled, "In the winter, I was at my grandmother’s. It was warmer, and prettier, too. My parents lived in a low-income apartment complex. It’s true that I felt self-conscious. Instead of “Émile Raspail Complex” I would say 'Émile Raspail Group' ... With no brothers or sisters, I was surrounded by adult topics. I listened to my grandmother’s (tarot) clients. When they had problems with their husbands, she would advise them to change their hairdo or to cook up a nice meal. Fixing themselves up, being beautiful. I was discovering female psychology ... I was fascinated with what was different. When my grandmother was receiving her clients, I would snoop around. There were feathers and plumes in old pictures of her. I would find a corset. She said you had to drink vinegar. You would tighten a string, and have a smaller waist. It was all cinema for me. From one element, I would invent a story."

Explorations in the area of fashion design began in his youth. In a February 2010 Telegraph UK interview, he shared an example: " 'I was a lonely child,’ he says. 'I was left to my own devices. One day I decided my teddy looked forlorn and ugly so I made him a corset.’ What on earth was it about corsets? 'My grandmother wore them sometimes and I loved them.’" http://www.carlabrunisarkozy.org/en/carla-bruni-sarkozy-foundation/interviews/jean-paul-gaultier-fashion-designer/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/labels/jeanpaulgaultier/7103487/Jean-Paul-Gaultier-Classic-french-cheek.html

Gaultier never received formal training as a fashion designer, but began diligent pursuit of his chosen career at an early age. At 16 he was encouraged by a neighbor, a woman who worked as an illustrator for l’Écho de la mode, to compile a portfolio of his sketches and send them out. He began mailing sketches to famous couture stylists in hopes of getting his foot in the door.

In 1970, at the age of 18, Gaultier's dream of working at an established fashion house came true. Pierre Cardin contacted him and invited him to come to work as an assistant. In 1971 he worked with Jacques Esterel and Jean Patou for a short while, then returned to Pierre Cardin to manage the company's boutique in Manila for a year in 1974.

Upon his return from the Phillipines in 1975, Gaultier began work on his first personal collection. In 1978, the Jean Paul Gaultier S.A. label officially launched.

In the '80s, Gaultier fashion became a hit in pop culture and on the runways. Early collections drew heavy inspiration from young London and New York street fashion, which Gaultier reinterpreted with his unique wit and an aura of French sophistication. Signature works often explored cultural taboos and playful sensuality; his skirts for men, torpedo-shaped sculptural cones over the breasts in womenswear, and cagelike constructions that exposed the body beneath are strong and memorable examples.

Gaultier also enjoyed toying with conventional ideas on how clothing should be shown on the runway. He liked presenting his work on unconventional models such as older men, full-figured women, heavily tattooed individuals, and models with an androgynous appearance. Shows were frequently held in an amphitheater outside of Paris that had once served as a slaughterhouse.

In 1987 Gaultier was honored as French Designer of the Year. Great expansion commenced through the following two decades. In 1988, Gaultier ventured into the lower-priced sportswear market with a line called Junior Gaultier. The Junior Gaultier label was replaced in 1994 with a unisex collection called JPG by Gaultier. A Gaultier Jeans line was launched in 1992, and evolved to become Jean's Paul Gaultier in 2004. In 1993, Gaultier launched a perfume line with fragrances for men and women.

In 1997, Gaultier began presenting Haute Couture lines and these were met with great excitement by fans, industry insiders and the media. Impressed by Gaultier's success, Hermès hired him as Creative Director in 2003 and he served in that position until his resignation in 2010. Hermes remains a 45% shareholder in Gaultier's eponymous brand. http://www.fashionologie.com/Jean-Paul-Gaultier-Leaving-Hermes-8563465

"No one managed to charm this season like Jean Paul Gaultier, who chose a Mexican theme inspired by Mel Gibson's 2007 movie Apocalypto . “This isn't just about Mexico, but everything that came before it – the Mayans and the Aztecs and the Incas,” Gaultier told me backstage. “And there's even some Avatar thrown in!” he laughed.

"With that motley mix of influences, he staged the most entertaining show of the week, featuring a mad mélange of vivid colours, basket-weave leather and fringe galore.

Jeanne Beker - The Globe and Mail

"With giant sombreros, conquistador armour, "mariachi" music, and enough hand-tooled leather and cowboy boots to outfit an army of gauchos, Jean Paul Gaultier turned his spring/summer 2010 haute couture collection into a Mexican fiesta in Paris. ''

"The "enfant terrible" of Paris fashion even managed to rope in the Aztecs, via Moctezuma-style turquoise, restyled as extreme corsetry, and paid homage to James Cameron’s sci-fi, box office blockbuster, “Avatar” with multi-plaited hairstyles, in the manner of the Narvi, Amazonian tattoos, and tropical, jungle motifs.

"As songs by the Peruvian soprano, Yma Sumac, and the veteran salsa singer, Luis Marino, pounded from the soundtrack, Gaultier’s models paraded in fringed and silver-studded denim; bra-top feathered dresses; shifts embroidered with beatle-bright jewels or worn with metallic shoulder and leg-guards; and ball gowns woven, in the manner of peasant baskets, in ribbons of shadow-dyed silk and suede. Accessories such as palm tree headdresses and bags completed the exotic spectacle. Gaultier’s show came to an appropriate climax with a performance by the French-American singer, Arielle Dombasle, in a red-hot chilli-inspired beaded corset and crinoline."

Hilary Alexander, Fashion Director at Paris Haute Couture Week - Telegraph UK

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/style/elegant-looks-grace-the-runways-in-paris/article1449483 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/paris-haute-couture-week/7084802/Paris-Haute-Couture-Jean-Paul-Gaultier-springsummer-2010-collection.html