French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier announces retirement

French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier said Friday that his next Paris haute couture fashion show will be his last.

The flamboyant creator said he would be bowing out Wednesday with a big party to mark his 50 years in the business after his latest collection hits the catwalk.

His brand told AFP that his high-end fashion and perfume business would live on, but that Gaultier was stepping back from designing clothes himself.

Gaultier, 67, stopped designing ready-to-wear clothes in 2015 to concentrate on haute couture — extravagant handmade clothes which only the world’s richest women can afford.

He was personal assistant to French fashion magnate Pierre Cardin at 18, and rose to fame in the 1980s alongside designers like Thierry Mugler when the Paris fashion scene was at its most decadent.

Read more via France 24/AFP

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