Each June, a parade of rainbow banners washes across our screens, shops and streets, heralding the arrival of Pride parades in cities peppered about the planet. The ubiquity of the sight is certainly welcome – a testament to how far we have come in challenging the open discrimination that LGBTQIA+ folks have historically faced, and supplanting it with celebration – but the fact that Pride now feels like such a natural part of our cultural calendars has, arguably, dulled our collective understanding of what it’s really about.
Yes, Pride is a celebration – an opportunity to take up space, have fun, and express, well, pride in being the fabulous people we all are, both as individuals and as a community. But Pride is, at its core, also a protest – a yearly reminder of the fact that, while we’ve come so far, there is still much further to go; a frontier in the fight to overcome the stark inequities and injustices that many of our LGBTQIA+ siblings around the world still face.
With its PRIDE 2023 fragrance, Jean Paul Gaultier presents a radically inclusive, all-gender eau de toilette created to celebrate and unify all who march beneath the banner of today’s rainbow flag. Bottled in two limited edition chrome-plated busts that nod to the maison’s archives, and celebrated in a campaign starring “NYC Bollywood princess” Richie Shazam, a living icon of the Downtown art scene, the scene is a bold assertion of the contemporary spirit of Pride.
More than an opportunist token, it’s an extension of Jean Paul Gaultier’s longstanding history of queer activism, an ethos that runs all the way back to the house’s earliest chapters. Jean Paul, after all, was among the first designers to blur fashion’s gender lines, styling musclebound boys in scanty womenswear, and voluptuous women in sharp tailoring. He was also one of fashion’s greatest campaigners and fundraisers for AIDS awareness in the wake of the onset of the global epidemic, famously raising $700,000 for amfAR – The Foundation for AIDS Research – with a charity fashion chaired by Madonna and Herb Ritts in 1992. Even the bottle of Le Male, the maison’s seminal fragrance, is a testament to the legendary designer’s legacy of queer advocacy – its honed physique and marinière stripes were, in fact, inspired by the strapping, saucy sailors of Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1982 queer classic Querelle.
That Jean Paul Gaultier has historically stood on the front line of the queer liberation movement – pushing for more space, visibility and action to protect individuals marginalised for the sole fact of living their truths – is a simple fact, and that remains the case to this day. In tandem with the launch of its PRIDE 2023 fragrance, the brand has committed to supporting a global panoply of associations “who are helping to make a difference and change mentalities in the world,” a release reads, including The Center in New York City, the origin of AIDS activism organisation ACT UP; Le Refuge in France; ACON in Australia; Parada Do Orgulho in São Paulo; Pride of Africa in Johannesburg; Regenbogenhaus Zürich in Switzerland; and Not A Phase, a UK-based trans+-led charity.
In collaboration with i-D, the house is also extending its support to London Trans+ Pride, a grassroots trans-led community organisation founded 2018. Best known for its yearly protest march through the British capital, calling for equality for members of the trans+ community via legislative change and urgent educational and healthcare reforms, London Trans+ Pride’s mission has never been more crucial than in a year when we’ve witnessed a dangerous uptick in toxic anti-trans rhetoric at a global institutional level. This has resulted in a swathe of laws and legal blockades passed in response to an illogical ‘trans panic’, an unabashedly hostile media environment, as well as in harrowing instances of brutal anti-trans violence, including the murder of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans girl, in a Warrington park.
While the concerted focus of London Trans+ Pride is trans+ advocacy, it is, at its core, driven by a radically inclusive, intersectional understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, demonstrating that until all of us experience true freedom and equity, none of us really do. It’s a message that has resonated deeper and wider with each year that has passed since the first march, with the rapidly expanding attendee numbers attesting to that. In order to cover the growing costs of organising the event, London Trans+ Pride’s voluntary committee has set up a community fundraiser for its next event, set to take place on July 8th 2023. While the official route is yet to be announced, funds raised will go towards necessary factors like sound equipment and transportation, stewards, a hydration station and accessibility measures, ensuring a safe, enjoyable environment for all.
As a mark of solidarity with London Trans+ Pride, Jean Paul Gaultier and i-D will be making a joint contribution to the fund, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to, too – not only for the sake of this year’s march, but also to ensure that its infrastructure of support is able to grow at the same pace as its crowds over years to come. And if you find yourself in London on July 8th, join us to shout with joy, rage and, above all, pride: we’re here, we aren’t going anywhere, get used to it!
This year’s London Trans+ Pride fundraiser has now ended, far exceeding its initial goal. £21025 was raised in total: of this, £9379 was raised since our partnership launched, contributed by i-D readers, i-D and Jean Paul Gaultier. London Trans+ Pride, i-D, Jean Paul Gaultier would like to thank i-D’s readership for their incredible generosity, which directly amplified London Trans+ Pride’s mission — both this year and for future editions to come.
Shop the Classique and Le Male Pride Edition Fragrances here.
Credits
Photography El Hogg
Talent in the images:
@elz___z
@vaschavaschavascha
@ellie.ha
@boyvvenus
@yazdemand
With special thanks to Lewis G Burton and E-J Scott