Jean-Claude Jitrois

Founder of the House of Jitrois — the skin as principle, the body as language

The Skin as a Founding Intuition

Before fashion, before leather, there is a founding intuition at the core of Jean-Claude Jitrois’ work:
the skin is not a surface, but an interface.

An interface between the body and the world, between intimacy and gaze, between desire and protection.
From an early age, this acute awareness of the skin — what it absorbs, transmits and reveals — became the foundation of his creative thinking.

For Jean-Claude Jitrois, creation never begins with decoration or trend.
It begins with a visceral relationship to the body, with a precise attention to what touches, restrains or liberates.

The garment is not an addition.
It is a sensory extension of being.

From Psychomotricity to Creation

Before becoming a fashion designer, Jean-Claude Jitrois trained in psychomotricity and therapeutic practice.
A demanding discipline that places the body at the center of psychic construction, movement and human interaction.

This background profoundly shaped his vision:
the body is not a form to be styled, but a living dynamic to be supported.

Gesture, posture, breathing and freedom of movement became fundamental parameters.
They would later influence cut, construction and material tension long before any aesthetic consideration.

Where fashion often imposes silhouettes,
Jean-Claude Jitrois seeks to reveal the body without constraining it.

Leather as a Material of Truth

Leather naturally emerged as his primary medium.
Not as a decorative symbol, but as a material of truth.

Skin among skins, leather carries a unique sensory and symbolic charge.
It evokes protection, power, sensuality, transgression and freedom.

In Jean-Claude Jitrois’ work, leather is never rigid.
It is worked, softened, sculpted and engineered to follow the body as closely as possible — until it becomes a second skin.

Leather ceases to be armor.
It becomes an enabler of movement, a revealer of intensity, a bodily language.

Dressing the Body in a State of Performance

Having worked for years with exposed, vulnerable or high-tension bodies, Jean-Claude Jitrois developed a rare understanding of what it means to stand before others, hold oneself, and face the gaze.

This sensitivity resonates naturally with artists, musicians and performers, for whom the stage is a space of psychological as much as physical intensity.
His creations do not seek to transform identity, but to support mental state, offering structure, protection and freedom of movement in moments of extreme exposure.

The garment becomes a tool for concentration, control and affirmation — a second skin capable of accompanying the body in the present moment.

Freedom, Desire and Bodily Affirmation

Jean-Claude Jitrois’ work is inseparable from a core conviction:
the garment must emancipate.

Emancipate the body from rigid norms.
Emancipate desire from convention.
Emancipate identity from fixed categories.

His silhouettes accompany those who move forward, who assume themselves, who stand firmly within their own power.
Leather is never concealment — it is an act of affirmation.

A Founding Vision

The principles developed by Jean-Claude Jitrois — skin, body, movement, second skin —
would later become the foundations of the House of Jitrois.

His journey has been recognized by French cultural institutions, notably with the Legion of Honour for his contribution to France’s cultural influence.
Beyond distinctions, his vision remains a living source, active and evolving.