He has enjoyed international success with some of his creations, including a coat of
teddy bears worn by pop star
Madonna and by supermodel
Helena Christensen in the film
Prêt-à-Porter and a sequin jacket for
Beyonce, and a
Donald Duck costume for
Rihanna. During his career he has befriended and worked with artists such as
Andy Warhol,
Keith Haring,
Jean Michel Basquiat,
Malcolm McLaren,
Robert Mapplethorpe,
M.I.A,
Cassette Playa, Curry & Coco, The Coconut Twins and
Lady Gaga. His fashion archive was showcased in preparation for his retrospective "Gallie Rock" in
Paris by photographers
Tim and Barry, modelled by
Cassette Playa,
M.I.A.,
Jammer,
Matthew Stone, Slew Dem Crew, and more. His creations have been displayed at New York's
Institute of Fashion and Technology, London's
Victoria&Albert Museum and the Galliera Museum in Paris. In 2015, he created a 3,700 m2 "Mural for Orly Airport in Paris" . As well as his imaginative clothing collections, As
Keith Haring initiated him to street-art, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac uses chalk to leave his poetic mark on the walls of the world's capitals. His career as a fashion designer started in 1968 alongside his mother, when he created Ko & Co. The first "manifesto" piece of clothing he produced was a coat he made, using the blanket he used when he was at boarding school. In the late ’60s, two decades before
Martin Margiela, he was the first to use
upcycled materials, fashioning clothes out of mops, blankets and medical bandages. He founded
maison Jean-Charles de Castelbajac in 1978, which he left in 2016. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, de Castelbajac was also the artistic director of fashion houses including
Max Mara and
Courrèges and he co-founded Iceberg in 1974. In 1979, in consonance with pop art, he designed cartoon pullovers that have since become iconic. In 2005,
Raika was the de Castelbajac
ready-to-wear license holder in Japan with retail value of €20 million. He also attended King of kitsch at Paris Fashion Week in 2010. In 2017, he collaborated with smartphone maker
OnePlus to release a collection called the "Callection" that was centred around a limited edition
OnePlus 5 smartphone. In 2018, he was named artistic director for the
Benetton Group. In 2019, he collaborated with
Palace Skateboards to release a collection featuring clothing, hats, and playing cards. He was asked to design the official vestments worn by the clergy at the re-opening of
Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris at Île de la Cite, on 7 December 2024. A major retrospective exhibition titled
L’Imagination au pouvoir is dedicated to him at Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, from December 2025 to August 2026. ==References==