Ahoy, seductive shipmates! Ludovic de Saint Sernin just took us on the most glamorous shipwreck in haute couture history, and we’re still gasping for air as the latest guest designer for the legendary house of Jean Paul Gaultier, de Saint Sernin dove headfirst into a maritime fantasy, serving up sensuality, drama, and timeless opulence on the high seas.
Titled “Le Naufrage” (The Shipwreck), this Spring Summer 25 couture collection was anything but a Titanic disaster. Instead, it was a thrilling voyage through deep-sea seduction and theatrical couture, featuring mermaids, sailors, pirates, and even sea monsters—each draped in designs that would make Poseidon jealous. The theme? “Lost in a bloody passion on a turbulent sea,” but make it couture!
The show kicked off with a vision: Mélusine, a goddess-like sea siren clad in a verdigris corset with angular hip construction and hand-painted rusty copper eyelets (yes, fashion meets oxidation!). This was paired with a mermaid skirt in silk organza embroidered with metallic bead netting—because even shipwrecked souls deserve sparkle.
Menswear made waves too, embracing gender-fluid sensuality with a deeply plunging corseted jacket, pheasant feather wings mounted on a harness, and eyelet briefs worn over a breezy sky-blue muslin drape. But the real moment? A corseted tailcoat fit for a high-seas heartbreaker.
The show played like an avant-garde fever dream, with de Saint Sernin reimagining Gaultier’s legacy through a lens of nearly-naked elegance. Dresses clung to bodies like drenched silk, resembling fish netting, seaweed, and even black sand on wet skin—a cheeky nod to that iconic Herb Ritts photo of Cindy Crawford rolling in the surf. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any bolder, a barely-there gown came with only an anchor covering the essentials. Nautical but make it risqué!
Of course, Gaultier’s signature corsetry got a playful remix—think Madonna’s cone bra, but with ship wheels instead of cones (brilliant, right?). And let’s talk about that sea-monster tailcoat and gown crafted from latex to mimic crocodile hide—high fashion, but make it mythological.
One of the most breathtaking moments? A fishtail gown fit for a Celtic sea queen, where dense crystal beading in a tartan pattern morphed into black ostrich feathers drenched in glycerine. It was couture magic at its finest—otherworldly, extravagant, and completely unforgettable.
As de Saint Sernin took his bow, he beelined straight for Jean Paul Gaultier himself, embracing the legend like a castaway being rescued. And honestly? This collection was the lifeboat we never knew we needed. A shipwreck has never looked so beautifully traumatic and equally dramatically gothic. They called her the couture collection of dreams, and she was. She was.
Words by Lewis Robert Cameron
@lrcfashionstylist
@ludovicdesaintsernin @jeanpaulgaultier
Image Direction @lignaciomunoz
Styling @mr_carlos_nazario
Casting Direction @piergiorgio
Movement Direction @pat_boguslawski
Creative Studio @jbtstudio
Hair @guidopalau
Make Up @karinwesterlundd with @officialbyredo & @drbarbarasturm
Nail @loradesousa with @kurebazaa
Film Direction @titreprovisoire
Show Design @matiere.noire.paris
Show Production @kitty_events
