Could Ludovic de Saint Sernin be Jean Paul Gaultier's next guest designer?

The rumour is growing: Ludovic de Saint Sernin could be the next guest designer for the Jean Paul Gaultier spring/summer 2025 Haute Couture collection. The Puig-owned brand has ceased to offer ready-to-wear since its namesake designer stepped down from the helm, and has instead continued to present in the form of a fashion show during the Paris Haute Couture Weeks in January and July.

If de Saint Sernin was to take on the prestigious honour, a role he is speculated to have already swept up according to sources for WWD, he would be following in the footsteps of past guest designers like Chitose Abe, Olivier Rousteing, Julien Dossena, Haider Ackermann, Simone Rocha, Glenn Martens and, for the most recent autumn/winter 2024/25 season, Nicolas Di Felice.

Ludovic de Saint Sernin is a Belgian designer raised in Paris and a graduate of the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré. After two initial experiences at Balmain and Dior, he launched his eponymous brand in 2017. He had a brief stint at Ann Demeulemeester (one season, one collection) in 2023. In February 2024, he chose to show during New York Fashion Week.

His style? Sensuality through men's and women's clothing, with a prominence of leather, suggestive laces, transparencies, nude hues and Queer Power t-shirts, to set the tone.

In fact, the link with the world of Jean-Paul Gaultier, a whimsical designer whose imagination has often flirted with fetishism, is easily woven and thus the rumour is not farfetched. If it is confirmed, the show will be held during the next Paris Haute Couture Week, from January 27 to 30, 2025.