Chitose Abe's Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Collection Debut Postponed to 2021
Tying in with the canceled Paris Fashion Week.
Recently, sacai‘s Chitose Abe was selected as the first guest designer to take over Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture line, as the venerable designer retired from fashion. Although the collection is still in the works, coronavirus has shifted its debut back by approximately six months, WWD reports
Paris Fashion Week‘s menswear and couture events were recently canceled, thus postponing Abe’s JPG Couture debut. Originally slated to debut in July, the new range will now emerge in January 2021.
“Even though our new haute couture concept will see the light of day only in January 2021, our teams, Chitose Abe and Jean Paul Gaultier are as committed to it as ever,” Gaultier’s house said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us like all the other couture houses, but we are confident that the success of Jean Paul Gaultier’s last couture collection in January will help us traverse this difficult year.”
Abe was the first guest designer selected to “interpret the codes of the house and give the vision of the haute couture,” meaning that once her JPG Couture offering premieres, another designer will take her place for the following presentation. The Couture Week cancellation has also affected Balenciaga‘s return to couture under Demna Gvasalia, which has also been pushed back for January.
In the meantime, sacai’s forthcoming Summer 2020 Nike partnership is still on the way.
