It’s official: Duran Lantink is the permanent creative director at Jean Paul Gaultier, a new post. What makes Lantink worthy of the appointment? It’s not the fact that he’s won practically every design award there is, from ANDAM to the LVMH Prize’s Karl Lagerfeld nod to Woolmark, though he certainly deserved those accolades. And it’s not because he had one of the season’s biggest viral hits with his latex tops: a man’s six-pack abs for Mica Arganaraz, and a woman’s breasts for a guy named Chandler. I think it’s because he’s become so influential so fast. Designers with much bigger profiles (and businesses!) have been taking cues from Lantink. Now he’s putting his own fledgling brand on pause to consider Gaultier’s famous codes. It’ll be fun to watch what he does. |
