The air in the Parisian office space was thick with expectation. Not office politics—but something far wilder. This was Duran Lantink’s Fall Winter 2025 presentation, and right from the start, you sensed a designer determined to unshackle form, defy decorum, and resurrect fashion as a realm of gleeful provocation.
The show, dubbed "Duranimal," was not just a runway—it was a gesamtkunstwerk of kitsch, craft, and chaotic joy. Imagine cubicles in mid-renovation, models weaving through them under the whispered hum of ambient office life. Suddenly, a choir seated amid paperwork and headsets began to sing—a cappella, uncanny, operatic. Then the clothing began to speak.
The opening look was like a dare: Mica Argañaraz in a latex torso sculpted into chiseled masculinity. The finale? Chandler Frye was closing the show with prosthetic, pendulous breasts that defied logic, yet sent ripples of laughter and gasp across the space. It wasn’t just fashion theatre—it was commentary, a playful push against gendered expectations.
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But there was substance under the spectacle. Lantink’s silhouette work—exaggerated shoulders, hip protrusions, “floating” skirts held aloft by metal bands—felt both cartoonish and urgent, as if the clothes themselves wanted to escape. Denim exposed barebacks, off-kilter hip padding, merging of animal prints and plaids—all whispered a single idea: reject the rules.
At its heart, though, this show was not about shock—it’s about expansion. Lantink invited us to expand our understanding of beauty, to feel discomfort as a possibility. The craftsmanship—hand-knit interlocking merino garments, upcycled cow and snake skins, deep collaboration with Sergio Rossi for custom footwear—marked this as theatrical but rooted in labor and materiality.
And beyond the show, something tectonic shifted. In April 2025, Lantink was named the next creative director of Jean Paul Gaultier, inheriting a brand that once made toys of extravagance and irreverence. His bold silhouettes and upcycled ethos echo Gaultier’s own legacy—something industry insiders now see as resurrection through a new radicalité.
Around the same time, another honor arrived: Lantink won the 2025 International Woolmark Prize, a testament not just to creative flair but to material innovation—his floating skirts and exoskeleton wool designs impressed judges amid a lineup of celebrated peers.
So here’s where the journey truly begins: behind towering foam forms, mixed patterns, and jiggle-inducing prosthetics lies a man who looks at rulebooks and sets them ablaze. Lantink stages absurdity with elegance, plays with identity while crafting exquisite knitwear, and now, carries into Gaultier the torch of outrage and imagination.
Picture that office. Models singing to papers. A designer reshaping how clothes converse with our bodies and our minds. This wasn’t about fashion’s future—it was about reclaiming fashion’s wild spirit. And as he steps into Gaultier’s house, that spirit may well erupt onto the world stage again.
Let Duran Lantink FW25 remind us: fashion isn’t just what we wear. It’s how we feel, how we provoke, and how we re-see ourselves through fabric, form, and the fearless soul of its creator.
