Can You Spot All the References in Julien Dossena's Jean-Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Collection?

In less than three years, Jean Paul Gaultier's guest designer program — where the brand selects one creative from a different house to envision its haute couture collection each season — has been responsible for some of the most exciting, talked-about and retweeted fashion. (If you want to get people talking online, drop an image of Glenn Martens' looks for Spring 2022.) This season, all eyes were on Rabanne's Julien Dossena as he took over the reigns from Haider Ackermann and gave us his take on not just Jean Paul Gaultier, but haute couture.

Dossena's achieved something pretty remarkable in today's creative director landscape: He's been at his job for almost a decade, and has not only reenergized Rabanne, but has also taken it from a sleepy name on the Puig portfolio to a highly influential, forward-thinking brand. As he nears his 10-year anniversary and ushers in Rabanne into a new chapter, Dossena was an apt choice for the Gaultier job — especially because, as he's shown time and time again, he's able to reference without simply copy-pasting, identifying the subtleties of what made an idea work and pushing it further and forward.

Dossena's Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture pulls from some of the most obvious and beloved hallmarks of the brand, like the pinstriped suit (as cinched and strong-shouldered as ever), the blue-and-white marinière stripes (done in a fuzzy turtleneck, with a blurring effect that meshes the colors together as you move upward), the coned bra details (seen on a few different gowns, married with the signature Rabanne metallics, as well as in the aforementioned suit) and even the riff on the naked dress (with Dossena's interpretation eschewing the graphic print in favor of a sheer, barely-there slip that reveals a bodysuit with faux pubic hair).

It also gets into some deep cuts: the off-the-shoulder bodysuit embellished with red roses worn by Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod in "The Fifth Element" (and seen on the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture runway), now done as a velvet gown with actual fresh flowers; the necktie looks from Spring 2002 Haute Couture, which were brought back for the namesake designer's final show, for Spring 2020; and one of the most memorable pieces from his very first haute couture collection — the dragon corset, updated with the cone bra. (Laetitia Casta, a longtime Gaultier model and muse, closed the Fall 2023 Haute Couture show, another nice touch.)

Dossena also seamlessly weaves in flairs from his Rabanne collections, like the fringe on an off-the-shoulder wrap, the liquid metal dresses, the armor-like all-over embellishments and the ornamental use of silver and gold. He's clearly a student of both Gaultier and Paco Rabanne, the men, marrying elements from both of their lives' work to create something fresh.

There are many more callbacks to great Jean Paul Gaultier and Rabanne looks of yore — see the full Fall 2023 Haute Couture collection, below.

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