Le Naufrage: Meet LDSS’ Whimsical Creatures for Jean Paul Gaultier

It has become a beautiful couture tradition. Since he retired from the world of high fashion in 2020, Jean Paul Gaultier has been giving full creative freedom and access to his Couture ateliers on rue Saint-Martin in Paris to an array of guest designers, allowing them to reinterpret his classic codes in their own way. After several legendary collabs with Glenn Martens (who has just been named creative director of Maison Margiela), Chitose Abe of Sacai, Olivier Rousteing of Balmain, Julien Dossena of Rabanne, Haider Ackermann, Nicolas Di Felice of Courrèges, or Simone Rocha, now it’s the turn of Ludovic de Saint Sernin to show his vision of the iconic house.

The Parisian designer has come up with a beautiful story about 27 characters who are about to embark on a journey on a mysterious ship, sailing under the light of a cursed star. As the name of the collection suggests, “La Naufrage” (or “The Shipwreck” in English), these characters are caught in the heart of a storm. So it’s a baroque and romantic tale of doomed voyage, an ode to desire.

Who is aboard the mysterious ship? A cast of whimsical characters, who adore corsets and exquisite maritime details - think mermaids, captains, pirates, water nymphs, virgins, and widows. Each one has a name and a distinct personality.

For example, the first one is called Mélusine (played by Ida Heiner), dressed in a verdigris satin duchesse bodice with an angular hip construction, hand-painted rusted copper eyelets and silver nappa leather lacing, paired with a silk organza mermaid skirt. Then there is Anne Bonny, who commands attention in an opera cape in oak double-faced cashmere, draped over a pearl silk shantung corset with angular hip construction, glinting silver eyelets and cream nappa leather lacing. L’Empreinte stuns in a gown hand-embroidered with 50,000 crystal beads, imitating volcanic sand with a wet effect. Ariel’s dress evokes sea foam, while Mary, Queen of Melrose (Lulu Tenney) wears a corseted dress in degradé Swarovski crystal mesh tartan, styled with a shawl in spotted double-faced marabou feathers. Aphrodite (Candice Swanepoel) spotlights a ruffled dress draped from 250 metres of sea foam silk tulle, worn beneath a cream silk shantungtaffeta corset with gleaming silver eyelets and tonal nappa leather lacing. Meanwhile, the Virgo shines in a column gown with capelet shoulders, bonded to a hand-assembled silver Swarovski crystal mesh trawling net, that comes with matching opera gloves. And of course, no couture collection is complete without the Bride (Angelina Kendall), the final and most striking silhouette, who made a remarkable entrance in a pearl leather silk satin corset embroidered with goose feathers.

Each silhouette reinterprets Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature codes through the lens of Ludovic de Saint Sernin — corsets, of course, but also more subtle nods to the legendary designer, whom Saint Sernin deeply admires. For example, The Leviathan (look 14) and Jeanne (look 15), crafted from anthracite latex molded to imitate crocodile skin, are inspired by Gaultier’s Hermès years and his love for trompe-l’œil illusions. The ship-hat from The Captain (look 16) recalls the Beaded Boat Hat from Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring-Summer 1998 haute couture show.

“I was listening to music that I knew Jean Paul loved. In a way, I was trying to sketch and understand where I was going. I came across Mylène Farmer’s music, stranded on a raft with Seal. Then I thought of an image from his first haute couture collection, of his perfume ads. That’s when it came to me, almost like a dream. I told myself, this is it, this is Le Naufrage. In fact, I even found the title before I started designing the collection,” explained the 34-year-old designer backstage, who showed on the catwalk a sensual, damp, and very desirable cast of characters, who move to the electrifying beats of Gesaffelstein, under the direction of fashion choreographer Pat Boguslawski. “I’m not typically known as a designer to have a sense of humor,” he added. “And it’s very serious for me to show myself as a couture designer for the first time; we worked extremely hard on creating each and every one of these looks. But when you meet Jean Paul, he is still so much fun, so I wanted to inject a little bit of that.”

Courtesy: Jean Paul Gaultier

Text: Lidia Ageeva