A revolutionary designer of the 1980s, the pioneer of the men's skirt and inseparable from his famous striped sweater, Jean Paul Gaultier founded his brand in the 1970s, after working for Cardin and Patou. He moved into haute couture before becoming artistic director of Hermès between 2004 and 2010. After a 50-year career, during which he revolutionized codes, the former "enfant terrible of fashion" retired in January 2020. But, at 72, he remains active, inviting designers to revisit his archives, and highly mobilized in the fight against AIDS. Once again this year, he is an ambassador for Sidaction, an event to raise AIDS awareness.

I wouldn't have got here if...

... If, as a child, I hadn't spent every Thursday afternoon at my maternal grandmother's house. She gave me complete freedom. It was while rummaging through her cupboards that I saw my first corset. I remember the color: salmon-pink. And the smell of her perfume. It was the early 1960s and I was 8 years old. I was watching TV shows of women getting their hair done, changing their look. I put my teddy bear through the same transformations. After Fabiola married King Baudoin [the Belgian king, on December 30, 1960], I married my teddy bear, for whom I'd made a dress by cutting up curtains. I made it conical breasts. He was the first transgender teddy bear!

What did your grandmother do? Where did she live?

In Arcueil [southern suburb of Paris], like us. My parents could have lived in her building, which would have been great. But they felt that I was already at home a lot, and that she was leaving me a little too much liberty. They decided to take an apartment further away. I really resented that. My grandmother was a retired nurse. But she continued to practice, especially at home. She also told fortunes, gave massages and facials, reset energies and gave her clients life and beauty advice. If one of them confided in her that they were having marital difficulties, she would advise them to change their hairstyle. I was a wise little boy and I listened. I understood that the way you wore your hair, the way you wore your clothes, the way you took care of yourself, could change your relationship with others. Aesthetics mixed with intimacy. I was immediately interested.

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