Taking over the creative direction of a fashion house as storied and memorable as Jean Paul Gaultier is similar to learning a language as an adult. You start to learn vocabulary and grammar, using it carefully, even a little formally at first. Fluency comes with time and repeated practice.

Now on his fourth ready-to-wear offering, creative director Duran Lantink continues to feel out the contours of the Gaultier vernacular, this time with a focus on archetypes as a shared interest with the house founder. “But for me, it’s very important to play with the three-dimensionality and perform that a bit,” he added in a pre-show interview.

Some of the collection’s best ideas were in the construction, made all the more visible by the show space’s profusion of mirrors. “For me, [showing all angles] is so important because I like the three-quarter [view] better than the side or the front,” Lantink said.

Collars pushed forward gave jackets an unusual neckline that, left open, hung with debonair charm. An hourglass blazer that looked straightforward on the run-of-show board turned out to be a jutting structure when the model walked past. Other jackets had a large porthole opening at the chest. For the show, that left neo-cone bras in full display, but Lantink said T-shirts with “Junior Gaultier” imagery were also an option.

This sculptural tailoring came flavored with Western, Gothic, kilts and a diffuse folkloric reference that felt alpine in origin. Think Lanz of Salzburg florals, some motifs so minute they looked like polka dots from afar, and bells.

But the ensemble skewed too serious in its pursuit of the experimental, borderline controversial side of Gaultier. The founder’s boldness was there, but not so much the hedonism and joy that made the brand’s provocation feel like a party.

Also absent were Lantink’s own impish impulses, which yield fun and salable results when left loose in the Gaultier world, as seen in the resort unveiled in June. Without them, the spring felt cold rather than cool.