Jean-Paul Gaultier is a French haute coutureand pret-a-porter fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermes from 2003 to 2010. Gaultier co-presented the television series Eurotrash with Antoine de Caunes. Gaultier grew up in the suburb of Paris.

His mother was a clerk and his father an accountant. It was his maternal grandmother, Marie Garrabe, who introduced him to the world of fashion. He never received formal training as a designer.

Instead, he started sending sketches to famous couture stylists at an early age. Pierre Cardin was impressed by his talent and hired him as an assistant in 1970. Afterwards he worked with Jacques Esterel in 1971 and Jean Patou later that year, then returning to manage the Pierre Cardin boutique in Manila for a year in 1974.