Jean-Paul Gaultier

Born 24 June 1952, Jean Paul Gaultier launched his own label in 1982 with no formal training, just an eye for turning underwear into outerwear and street references into couture. The cone bra for Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition tour became shorthand for his entire aesthetic: sculptural, cheeky, unafraid. He dressed sci-fi futures in The Fifth Element and The City of Lost Children, added fragrances in 1993, then spent seven years as creative director at Hermès before returning to his own house. He closed the haute couture chapter in January 2020 after a 50th-anniversary show in Paris, leaving the…