Childhood:  Born on April 24, 1952 in Arcueil, France, Gaultier was an only child who spent his youth struggling to escape the influence of his parents, who were both accountants and who hoped that their son would become a Spanish teacher. The future designer was greatly influenced by his grandmother, Marie Garrabe, a hypnotist and practitioner of alternative healing who encouraged him to pursue the unmanly pastimes of sketching and costume making.

Gaultier first realized the impact of his sketches when he was punished by his school teacher for drawing Folies Bergère showgirls. He was made to walk around school with the drawing pinned to his back. The punishment, however, only made the young Gaultier aware of his potential for showmanship.

Friends & Relationships: At the end of the 1980s, Gaultier suffered some personal losses, including his lover and business partner for fifteen years Francis Menuge, who died of AIDS-related causes. Since then, there has been no mention of a significant other.

The designer lives in Paris, where his business is headquartered, but also spends time in Italy, where his clothes are manufactured.

Work: Gaultier never received formal training as a designer. Instead, he started sending sketches to famous couture stylists at an early age. Pierre Cardin was impressed by his talent and hired him as an assistant in 1970. Afterwards, he worked with Jacques Esterel in 1971 and Jean Patou later that year, then returning to manage the Pierre Cardin boutique in Manila from 1974-'75.

His first individual collection was released in 1976 and his characteristic irreverent style dates from 1981, and he has long been known as the enfant terrible (bad boy) of French fashion. Many of Gaultier's following collections have been based on street wear, focusing on popular culture, whereas others, particularly his Haute Couture collections, are very formal yet at the same time unusual and playful. Jean-Paul Gaultier produced sculptured costumes for Madonna during the nineties with her infamous cone-bra for her Blond Ambition Tour and designed the wardrobe for her Confessions Tour in 2006, as well. Gaultier has also worked in close collaboration with Wolford Hosiery. He promoted the use of skirts, especially kilts on men's wardrobe, and the release of designer collections.

Gaultier caused shock by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like older men and full-figured women, pierced and heavily tattooed models, and by playing with traditional gender roles in the shows. This earned him both criticism and enormous popularity.

Gaultier designed the wardrobe of many motion pictures, including Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Pedro Almodóvar's Kika, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's La Cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children). He currently designs for three collections: his own couture and ready-to-wear lines, as well as the newly relaunched clothing line for Hermès, a French leather goods company well-known for their equestrian background, scarves, and expensive and difficult to obtain handbags.

Gaultier has designed a number of the costumes and outfits worn by rocker Marilyn Manson, including the outfits for Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque album. In France the costumes he designed for singer Mylène Farmer gained much attention. In spring 2008 he signed a contract to be again the fashion designer for her tour in 2009.

He's also well-known for his exhibit in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art known as Bravehearts - Men in Skirts.

Has designed the costumes for Kylie Minogue's international KYLIEX2008 tour. The late iconic Hong Kong singer Leslie Cheung hired Gaultier to design eight different costumes for his last concert tour before his death.

Besides his ready-to-wear collection, in 1988 Gaultier expanded his brand to include the label Junior Gaultier, a lower-priced line designed for the youth market with a heavy nautical influence that he began to carry throughout all of his collections. This was replaced in 1994 with JPG by Gaultier, a unisex collection that followed the designer's idea of fluidity of the sexes. Gaultier Jean's, a similar line comprised mainly of denim and more simply styled garments with a heavy street influence, followed in 1992, which was then replaced with Jean's Paul Gaultier in 2004.

What brought Gaultier immense success was the advent of his haute couture line in 1997. Through this collection, he was able to freely express the perversity of his aesthetic, from inspiration ranging from imperial India to Hasidic Judaism. As a result of this success, Hermès hired Gaultier as creative director in 2003.

Jean-Paul Gaultier's wit and attitude would be lost were it not for his technical skill and sophistication, shown by the success of his couture label. His looks are strong and may appear lecherous, while always remaining respectful to women's body and sexuality. As the '90s wore on and tastes began to change, his ready-to-wear followed suit, and today he is known by large as having mastered the looks of chiffon gowns, trench coats and pant suits.

In addition to being a fashion designer, Jean-Paul Gaultier is known for a popular line of perfumes. His first fragrance, Classique, a women's floral-oriental, was introduced in 1993, followed by Le Mâle for men two years later. Both were highly successful, and Le Mâle is now the number-one men's fragrance in the European Union based on sales; it also holds a strong market position in Australia and the United States. His third fragrance, the women's fragrance Fragile, was introduced in 2000; however, it is now in limited distribution due to poor sales. In 2005, the unisex "fragrance for humanity" Gaultier² (pronounced Gaultier to the power of two) was launched (except in Canada, where it was launched in January 2006, and the United States, where it was launched in August 2006). Most recently, Jean-Paul Gaultier's latest men's fragrance, Fleur du Mâle (a pun on Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal), was launched in April 2007. All Jean-Paul Gaultier perfumes are produced under a long-term license by Paris-based Beauté Prestige International, a division of the Japanese company Shiseido that also produces fragrances for Narciso Rodriguez and Issey Miyake. BPI is now in charge of the John Varvatos fragrance line as well as SKIN (His skincare line for men). He has released a new fragrance known as Madame

 

Greatest Achievement:

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA -1996 & 1998 Saturn Award Nominee for Best Costumes for Cité des enfants perdus, La (1995) & The Fifth Element (1997) respectively.
• César Awards, France – 1996 & 1998 Award Nominee for  Best Costume Design (Meilleurs costumes) for Cité des enfants perdus, La (1995) & The Fifth Element (1997)
• European Film Awards – 1990 Award Nominee for Best Production Designer for The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
  

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