Jean Paul Gaultier’s Pre-Fall 2025 campaign channels earth, air, fire and water – with a little help from a fifth force: Blackpink’s Jennie.
Jean Paul Gaultier has crowned the K-pop megastar its “Ultimate Showgirl,” with Jennie leading a theatrical new campaign that reimagines the house’s signature corsetry, sharp tailoring and trompe-l’œil tricks through the lens of the four classical elements. Photographed by Max Siedentopf, Jennie is cast as a modern-day showgirl commanding a surreal stage of water, fire, earth and air. Her wardrobe swings from a semi-sheer, baroque-print bodysuit emblazoned with “GAULTIER” across the chest to a dark indigo denim-on-denim ensemble with flared trousers – each look representative of the elements while staying true to the house’s DNA.
After nearly a decade off the ready-to-wear radar, the brand is staging a comeback – it only just resumed RTW after shutting that line in 2014 – and it recently ended five years of rotating guest designers to install a new permanent creative director, Duran Lantink.
The brand itself describes Jennie as “a modern-day showgirl…commanding the stage” with a presence “both grounded and ethereal”. Whether draped in liquid-like lace or sparkling in blood-red sequins, she slips into each elemental persona with cool, chameleonic ease, imbuing even Gaultier’s most fantastical creations with an instinctive strength and authenticity.
