The exhibition Under Your Smell offers a hypnotic and immersive experience in Jean Paul Gaultier's headquarters by imagining new definitions of beauty and body expression. Under the direction of Florence Tétier and Nicolas Coulomb, 3rd year Bachelor Photography students brought to life the brand's iconic perfumes through an immersive photographic experience.
In the first season, with the complicity of Claude Emmanuelle Gajan Maull, the young photographers have fluidified the iconic bottles with their gendered silhouettes — Le Mâle, Le Classique, Le Beau and La Belle — in a fresh LGBTQIA+ perspective. With this upcoming season, the project evolves around the Scandal fragrance, with the creation of still lives in which the liquid, dry and organic contrasting textures evoke the essence of the perfume, its bottle design and its complexities. Through staging, the perfumes become the backdrop for stories of transgression and fantastical projections.
In addition to monumental fabric prints, giant image-cushions welcome the public to lay down and celebrate gender fluidity and the ever changing definitions of beauty and self expression.
Collaboration (2022) by Dominique Bartels, Julie Corday, Diego Fellmann, Florian Hilt, Samara Krähenbühl, Angèle Marignac-Serra, Lisa Mazenauer, Marvin Merkel, Inès Mermoud, Basil Pérot, Yolane Rais, Camille Spiller, Gwendoline Albasini, Tony Altermatt, Matteo Angelé, Laure Brandford Griffith, Noa Chevalley, Sara De Brito Faustino, Yann Difford, Jessica Dreier, Valerie Geissbühler, Eloïse Genoud, Ulises Lozano, Lea Sblandano, Samuel Spreyz, Gaétan Uldry, Antoine Woeffray, Louis Victorin Michel, Yan Miranda
Event
Event
Under the direction of Florence Tétier (Jean Paul Gaultier) and Nicolas Coulomb (Novembre Magazine), 3rd year Bachelor Photography students of ECAL present a visual interpretation of Jean Paul Gaultier's perfumes.
In the first season, with the complicity of Claude Emmanuelle Gajan Maull, the young photographers have fluidified the iconic bottles with their gendered silhouettes — Le Mâle, Le Classique, Le Beau and La Belle — in a fresh LGBTQIA+ perspective.
With this upcoming season, the project evolves around the Scandal fragrance, with the creation of still lives in which the liquid, dry and organic contrasting textures evoke the essence of the perfume, its bottle design and its complexities. Through staging, the perfumes become the backdrop for stories of transgression and fantastical projections.
Under Your Smell offers a hypnotic and immersive experience through monumental fabric prints all around the iconic spaces of the Jean Paul Gaultier House. Giant image-cushions welcome the public to lay down and celebrate gender fluidity and the ever changing definitions of beauty and self expression.
Dominique Bartels, Julie Corday, Diego Fellmann, Florian Hilt, Samara Krähenbühl, Angèle Marignac-Serra, Lisa Mazenauer, Marvin Merkel, Inès Mermoud, Basil Pérot, Yolane Rais, Camille Spiller, Gwendoline Albasini, Tony Altermatt, Matteo Angelé, Laure Brandford Griffith, Noa Chevalley, Sara De Brito Faustino, Yann Difford, Jessica Dreier, Valerie Geissbühler, Eloïse Genoud, Ulises Lozano, Louis Victorin Michel , Yan Miranda , Lea Sblandano, Samuel Spreyz, Gaétan Uldry, Antoine Woeffray,
Florence Tétier - directrice de création Jean Paul Gaultier
Nicolas Coulomb - photographe et consultant Novembre Global
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EXHIBITIONS
From March 3 to May 21, 2023, ECAL presents Under Your Smell at Photo Elysée. In collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier, Bachelor Photography students propose their interpretation of the brand's perfumes through an immersive exhibition celebrating gender diversity and new definitions of beauty. Opening Thursday, March 2 at 6pm.
EXHIBITIONS
From November 10 to 12 2022, Jean Paul Gaultier opens the doors of its Paris headquarters to the general public. During Paris Photo, the House is partnering with ECAL to present the photography exhibition Under Your Smell. Students from Bachelor Photography will show their interpretation of Gaultier's perfumes.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Maisie Cousins
The aim of this workshop, led by photographer Maisie Cousins, is to use photography as a tool to broaden our powers of observation. During the week, students explored macro photography to create miniature and abstract worlds using everyday objects and accessories. This invites us to reflect: what else are we overlooking in our immediate environment?
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Philippe Jarrigeon
Drawing on Moncler’s Alpine heritage, its timeless style, and its technical mastery, the ECAL Bachelor Photography students developed their own interpretation of the brand’s visual language, blending documentary photography with staged scenes, and merging reality with fiction, under the artistic direction of French photographer Philippe Jarrigeon. As part of Paris Photo 2025, the students’ work was showcased at the Moncler boutique on the Champs-Élysées.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Douglas Mandry
This workshop brought together ECAL graduate artist Douglas Mandry, the Polaroid Foundation, and around thirty Bachelor Photography students. They had the exceptional opportunity to work with a camera that produces Polaroid films in a 40 × 60 cm format and weighs nearly 200 kg. This experience was made possible thanks to its operators, John Reuter and Harriet Browse, who introduced the students to the use of this unique device and the Polaroid Foundation team. Douglas Mandry provided the project’s artistic direction and supported the students in their experiments carried out directly with and on the films. The final result was presented as a collective exhibition on ECAL’s premises, revealing a particularly rich diversity of approaches and visions.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Adel Debabéche
Ouled El Bahdja offers an intimate glimpse into Algerian youth, caught between waiting and the desire to leave. This project explores the mental and physical space of a generation dreaming of elsewhere, in a country where the future feels suspended. It is a portrait of a fragmented daily life, where time stretches into boredom, yet a quiet tension remains—between resignation and hope. An attempt to capture those in-between moments, those gazes turned toward Europe—a collective fantasy, a promise of recognition, but also an uncertain path... Ouled El Bahdja sheds light on a youth that, despite sociopolitical constraints, seeks to build a meaningful existence. A gesture to make visible the dreams and desires for emancipationborn in the shadows.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Belinda Kiela
The images in this edition are fragments of an immersion at the University of Kinshasa : a glimpse into student life in a vibrant, ever-moving capital. Through laughter, doubts, and encounters, the photographer has learned to anchor herself in a daily life far removed from the one she knows in Europe. Bana ya Mbóka — children of the country — gives a face to the youths who study, dream, and resist on this campus. Founded in 1954, UniKin aimed to be a leading African institution, but instability slowed that vision. Despite strikes, power cuts, and limited resources, the students she has met exude strength and clarity. This project reveals moments of connection, gestures of resilience, and hopes that persists through it all.