Published in 1993 and written by fashion historian Farid Chenoune, Jean Paul Gaultier: Mémoire de la Mode forms part of the French Mémoire de la Mode series, dedicated to documenting influential late 20th-century designers. The volume surveys Jean Paul Gaultier’s work from the 1970s through the early 1990s, tracing the evolution of his independent house following his early training with Pierre Cardin and Jean Patou.
Chenoune situates Gaultier’s practice within a broader historical and cultural framework, examining his recurring codes—corsetry as outerwear, the marinière stripe, tailored reinterpretations of uniform, and the destabilization of gendered dress. Rather than treating these elements as provocation alone, the text frames them as acts of citation and recomposition, drawing from costume history, street culture, cinema, and popular iconography.
Richly illustrated with runway photography and archival imagery, the publication functions as both monograph and historical document, capturing a formative period in Gaultier’s career when the boundaries between couture, ready-to-wear, and subculture were actively being renegotiated.