The following guest designer for the brand’s haute couture collection, which will be displayed in Paris in July, has been revealed by Jean Paul Gaultier. After a successful collaboration with Haider Ackermann last season, as well as preceding couture creations by Sacai’s Chitose Abe, Glenn Martens, and Olivier Rousteing, Paco Rabanne’s creative director Julien Dossena will be the brand’s fifth guest designer.
Both Mr. Dossena and Mr. Gaultier have connections to Puig, the parent company that holds the bulk of the stock in the Paco Rabanne and Gaultier companies. Working with the designer’s couture atelier in Paris, according to Mr. Dossena, is like “driving a Rolls-Royce,” referring to the facility’s technical aptitude and creative options. In a similar interview with WWD, he stated: “When you touch all those pieces, you can try to understand the thinking that allowed him to arrive at that exact reference, mixed with another reference that makes it unique and at the same time super French, mixed with that cool, 1990s grunge feeling — yet realised with the most exquisite techniques and embroideries. You realise that’s what sets him apart as one of history’s greatest designers and couturiers.
Mr. Dossena, who has been in charge of Paco Rabanne for ten years, was formerly employed by Nicolas Ghesquière while he was the creative director of Balenciaga. It just so happens that Mr. Ghesquière is a former employee of Jean Paul Gaultier, completing the circle of outstanding creative brilliance.
Gaultier told WWD, “Julien has a certain sense of reinterpretation, and I’m intrigued to see how he will play with my codes.” “Julien knows how to make the strength of Paco Rabanne’s heritage resonate in his creations,” says Julien.
