He became life-long friends with Vivienne Westwood, Malcom McLaren and the New York Dolls after meeting during a trip to London and his fascination with graffiti in the 1980s led to his following eccentric designs of Warhol-esque Campbell soup can dresses, giant Snoopy t-shirts and oversized detailing consistent throughout his collections. Assuming the role of cartoon fashion maverick, this idea has been imitated´, most recently, across the London catwalk shows during Fashion Week 2007 with Luella Bartley's batman-inspired Autumn/Winter collection and Marc Jacobs Sponge Bob influences for Louis Vuitton. His personal motto of ´I am and I don´t follow´ has been pursued by the designer to a tee despite counting Cassette Playa, Jeremy Scott, Bernhad Willhelm, Giles Deacon, Gareth Pugh and himself as part of the same community.
Jean Charles considers dressing 5000 priests, 500 bishops and the Pope in rainbow colours and a theme reminiscent of Noah´s Ark, for their 1997 visit to Paris, as "life changing". The designs were met with praise and admiration and the designer thought it amusingly appropriate to remind the Pope of the rainbows connection with the gay community, of which the Pope responded with suggesting that JC/DC "used colour as a cement of faith" and that nobody had actually copyrighted the symbol.
Famed for his colourful injection of fun throughout his collections, having used clouds, polka dots, smiley faces and graphic cartoon characters, his eclectic designs have caught the attention of many a fashionista and in 2006 exhibited his work, spanning the length of his professional career, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, penned Popaganda: The Fashion and Style of JC/DC.