Jean Paul Gaultier is gearing up to make a bigger impact on both ready-to-wear and couture with owner Puig naming Duran Lantink as its permanent creative director.
Duran Lantink. Photo by Walter Pfeiffer
The new creative chief’s first RTW collection for the label will be for SS26, showing in September. The equivalent couture collection will be shown in January.
It follows five years (since Gaultier himself retired in 2020) in which the brand been overseen by a series of sought-after guest designers, including Chitose Abe, Glenn Martens, Olivier Rousteing, and Simon Rocha, among others, and — most recently — Ludovic de Saint Sernin.
They’ve added their own spin to the Gaultier look while also revisiting some of the brand’s past glories and that could be what we’ll see under Lantink too. But the key will be that there’s now a more unified approach between couture and RTW and from season to season.
Hailing the arrival of Lantink, Jean Paul Gaultier referenced what people had long said about his own work and approach, saying: “I see in him the energy, audacity and playful spirit through fashion that I had at the beginning of my own journey: the new enfant terrible of fashion. Welcome Duran.”
And Lantink added that he sees Gaultier “as a genius and part of a generation that kicked down doors, so people like us can walk through them freely and be who we are without apology”.
He praised the label’s constant challenging of codes, pushing fashion’s boundaries and drawing on multiple cultural influences to redefine the way people wear clothes.
Gaultier’s biggest business is fragrance, which dwarfs the size of the fashion ops so it will be interesting to see how big Puig hopes Gaultier’s fashion will become as it prepare’s for the house’s 50th anniversary next year.
It’s been reported that Lantink’s own label will be paused, which is understandable given the size of the job he now has ahead of him.
So who is Duran Lantink? Born in 1988, the Dutch designer launched his own label in the last decade and was taken up by ‘cool’ celebrities, as well as winning multiple prestigious prizes. He won the Andam Special Prize in 2023 and the LVMH Prize’s Karl Lagerfeld Award a year later. He also won the Woolmark Prize only this month.
He’s fond of playing with gender norms and is known for his bold silhouettes, which stand out against the quiet luxury trend of recent years.
Dior has announced the appointment of Ashley Park as its newest ambassador for fashion and beauty.
Ashley Park – Dior
The Asian-American actress is known for her work both on and off the screen, most notably for her role as Mindy Chen in the Netflix series “Emily in Paris”, as well as her portrayal of Gretchen Weiners in “Mean Girls” the musical, on Broadway.
Her other theatre roles include Tuptim in “The King and I” and MwE in Ars Nova‘s musical “KPop. She stars in Adele Lim’s directorial debut, “Joy Ride”, and has had recurring roles in “Beef” and “Only Murders in the Building”.
The Tony and Grammy nominee is the first Asian-American actress to be nominated in her category at the Critics’ Choice Awards, “and she stands out for her commitment to female empowerment and individuality, in perfect harmony with the Dior spirit,” according to Dior.
“Exalting daring femininity, this alliance reflects elegance in perpetual reinvention,” said Dior, in a press release.
Park joins other celebrity Dior ambassadors including Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Alexandra Daddario, Rachel Zegler, Anna Sawai, Dilraba Dilmurat, Anya Taylor-Joy, Blackpink’s Jisoo, Robert Pattinson, Caleb McLaughlin, and Jenna Ortega.
Chinese authorities have asked e-commerce platform operators to stop insisting on merchants refunding customers without requiring the return of goods, to alleviate financial pressure on merchants, two people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters
The government met operators including PDD Holdings, opens new tab and concluded the practice must end by July, from which point only merchants will be able to initiate a refund, the people said, without specifying dates.
The aim is to prevent merchants’ situation becoming tenuous during times of economic slowdown, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the information is not public. PDD and peer JD.com declined to comment. Alibaba Group, opens new tab and the State Administration for Market Regulation did not respond to requests for comment.
In July, hundreds of people gathered at an office of PDD platform Temu in southern China to protest against its refund policy. Authorities including the market regulator and commerce ministry subsequently ordered PDD to revise the policy.
This year, government bodies including the market regulator and the National Development and Reform Commission have increased criticism of what they dub “involution-style” competition. In March, during the annual parliamentary session, the phrase “comprehensive rectification of ‘involution-style’ competition” was incorporated into the Government Work Report.
The refund-without-returns policy was designed to benefit both buyers and sellers for some types of order. PDD began to expand the policy in 2021, prompting rivals to follow suit.
Merchants of goods as varied as clothes and household appliances have reported the policy as detrimental to their bottom line as they risk losing both money and goods.
British finance minister Rachel Reeves announced steps on Wednesday to prevent the dumping of goods with unfairly low prices into the country which could surge as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s sky-high tariff on imports from China.
Rachel Reeves – Reuters
Reeves, who wants to smooth the way for trade deals with the United States and other countries during a visit to Washington this week, said she would help retailers and other businesses who worry about the risk of cut-price competition, much of it from China, as the world’s trade system is overhauled.
“This government is meeting the moment to protect fair and open trade,” Reeves said in a statement.
“Today’s package will help businesses compete fairly with international exporters, supporting a world economy that provides stability and fairness for working people and businesses alike.”
Britain’s government will review the customs treatment of low-value imports which allows goods valued at 135 pounds ($179.66) or less to be imported without paying customs duty, a system that some retailers say puts them at a disadvantage.
Some British retailers have called for the loophole to be scrapped, saying e-commerce platforms like China’s fast fashion group Shein are benefitting unfairly.
In the U.S., as well as pushing import tariffs for Chinese goods to 145% this month, Trump has closed a trade loophole that allowed low-value packages from China and Hong Kong to enter the United States free of duties.
Both measures could lead to exports from China which are no longer able to enter the U.S. being diverted to markets in Europe and elsewhere, pushing down prices.
The UK finance ministry said other new measures included increased support for businesses seeking to report unfair trade practices, better monitoring of trade data and an acceleration of measures to prevent import surges.
Britain’s anti-dumping office – which was set up after the country left the European Union – will focus more of its work on helping small and medium sized companies to show evidence of unfair trade practices and speed up investigations.
The measures might also win favour within the Trump administration which has ratcheted up trade pressure on China.
Beijing on Monday warned countries against striking economic deals with the United States at China’s expense.
A group representing British retailers welcomed the announcement of the review into the customs treatment of low-value imports and said speed was of the essence.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said action had long been needed and “with retailers seeing a rise in the number of potentially non-compliant products entering the UK market, it’s even more critical now.”
Politics8 years ago