Jean Paul Gaultier x Ludovic de Saint Sernin: Couture Spring/Summer 2025

Fashion knows how to tell fairy tales — especially when Ludovic de Saint Sernin takes the helm. For the Spring/Summer 2025 couture season, the young Belgian designer stepped in as guest couturier at the House of Jean Paul Gaultier, joining a lineage of creative talents like Simone Rocha and Haider Ackermann. His offering, titled Le Naufrage (“The Shipwreck”), was an oceanic odyssey steeped in sensuality, theatricality, and freedom.

Inspired by a tempestuous tale of star-crossed lovers lost to passion at sea, the collection reimagined couture as a watery fever dream. On the runway, mermaids, pirates, sea monsters, and the “eternal bride” emerged in slinky silks, slick latex, macramé nets, and sheer, body-hugging fabrics resembling wet sand, seaweed, and fishing nets — a visual nod to Herb Ritts’ iconic seaside imagery.

Corsetry, a shared obsession between Gaultier and de Saint Sernin, anchored the collection. Highlights included a dress with an anchor for a bodice, a corset with ship wheels in place of cups, and Jeanne’s lambskin column gown laced with 75 meters of nappa leather. From The Captain’s Swarovski-strewn mermaid skirt to Ariel’s rigging-rope dress spun with metal sequins, each look was its own fantastical character.

With masterful contrasts — rigid tailoring against flowing mousseline, raw textures offset by gleaming embellishments — the collection honored Gaultier’s codes while channeling de Saint Sernin’s stripped-down eroticism. The final look, La Mariée, floated down the catwalk in a corset and organza train embroidered with goose and ostrich feathers, sealing the show with poetic grandeur.

Taking his bow, de Saint Sernin embraced Gaultier like a sailor reaching shore — grateful, bold, and triumphant. Le Naufrage didn’t just respect the house’s legacy; it expanded it, proving that couture can be both provocative and profoundly poetic.