Can you separate the art from the artist? It's one of the most confounding questions of the modern age, and I am in no way ready to answer it about designer John Galliano.
He is undoubtedly a master aesthete, and yet he cuts a divisive figure, following years of controversy and backlash. I am a bit of a conflicted paramour when it comes to Galliano. From a loric rise in costume design as a Central Saints Martin graduate in 1981 to working across Dior, Givenchy, Margiela and his own label, the designer's influence from runway to rack cannot be overstated. Galliano is the father of haute couture as we recognise it today.
From the outset, the game of musical chairs will continue. John Galliano is not returning to Margiela after the expiration of his five-year contract. The designer is reportedly setting his sights back on LVMH. A return to Dior is certainly interesting. His reinstatement would follow Maria Grazia Chiuri's legacy of work there, which was tabled for good in 2016.
A decade after his hiatus from fashion, Galliano is poised for a rousing return. It started with the lauded spectacle of the Artisanal SS24 presentation in January, and followed well into the Met Gala of this year, where he dressed Kim Kardashian, Zendaya, Gwendoline Christie and Bad Bunny. Now, while we wait for further word on his movements, it's time to turn to the past. Cast your sights back to the rich tableau Galliano has weaved over the years.
1. John Galliano Pin Up 1995
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Cars, clotheslines, and corrugated silvers. These were the touch points into Galliano's Pin Up presentation. His signature bias cut was on full display, paraded along tailored blazer-suit sets that funnelled in from the sternum. Linda Evangelista closed the show in a canary-yellow number that threw everything off its axis. No, nothing was quite the same after that.
2. Maison Margiela Artisanal Spring Summer 2024
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What can be said about this return that hasn't been said already? It was a triumph of old and new. It ticked all the boxes. Above all, it was ubiquitously Galliano - from the high-strung corsetry to the floating panniers and embroidered tulle, artfully hidden in smog. The gallows of old Paris come to mind, and Pat Mcgrath's lacquered porcelain magic cemented the show, corroding the polish of the French presentation with a sense of decay.
3. Christian Dior Spring Summer 1994
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All that glitters is gold, and Galliano. In a misdirected homage to the Egyptian dunes, an oriental tribute (in line with Edward W. Said's critique of it, mind you) brought the roiling heat to Dior's Spring/Summer 1994. Inlaid jewels, the striped Nemes headpiece worn by Egypt's royals, and gallant displays of opulence come to life.
4. Zendaya at The Met Gala 2024
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Hand embroidery meets a haute couture silhouette. Both stylistic cues take inspiration from the 1930s works of photography Madame Yevonde, and the sage lamé bias-cut ‘siren dress’ is crusted with iridescent blue organza. Outlines of the bacchanal are scattered throughout; scarab beetles, birds, vines, fauna, and grapes all visible from the duchess satin corset worn over the gown. There are hints of the Artisanal 2020 collection everywhere in the construction, if you know where to look.
5. Givenchy Spring Summer 1996
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For Galliano's debut at Givenchy, he wanted to get it right. Les Incroyables was always going to be as it was named: a feat of historical proportions. Crêpe dresses, atelier constructions of gravity defiance, collared Victorian scruffs, and gigantic sashes were paraded down the runway. Gloves and feathered adornments cuffed at the wrist and on the crowns of each model added a final touch of pomp.
6. John Galliano Menswear Spring Summer 2004
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For his own brand, Galliano foisted an entirely new direction in menswear. Models were trussed up and sheeny with sweat, bringing to attention the purple bruises blooming across their eye sockets and cheek bones. Chests were on full-exposure, with low-cut jerseys and accented bomber jackets, some emblazoned with the gothic scrawl of Galliano's signature lettering.
7. Christian Dior Spring Summer 1997
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Haute couture and gala pageantry come to head in Christian Dior's Spring/Summer 1997 presentation. A debutante ball at its most dreamed up, the affair was capped off by an enormous, slate-gray plinth engraved with the House logo. Models in silk and taffeta paraded up to its ivy-covered centrepoint, leaning on its surface as if to steady herself. The belle is taking a moment for herself, away from the mire of the party.
8. Maison Margiela Spring Summer 2019
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All-black, headwear, and stony fronts. This is Galliano's reimagining of Maison Margiela which is perhaps most closely tied to the house we've come to visually associate with today. Clunky headgear and loose-fitting outfits that glinted with PVC and latex rotated from look to look, with exceptions in a bubble-gum pink trench and a luminescent, holographic number that glinted off the legs of one model.
9. Dior Autumn Winter 2007
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Something about Galliano's Dior Fall/Winter 2007 is very remniscient of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. But did the chicken come first, or the egg? After all, the film was released in 2006, and features many a macaron-shaded dress with the same crimped, ruffled layers of this very collection. Bodices are high, hair adornments glittering with chintzy detailing, and the same time-irreverent tribute to the French costume is applied. This is a reimagining of the frou frou for the modern woman.
10. John Galliano Spring Summer 2004
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In the same timeclash of 21st century and historical avant-garde, Galliano has become the precedent he based a lifework of inspiration on. The ready-to-wear of his Spring/Summer 2004 featured even more corsetry, garters shimmying up into fanned out micro-minis, gauze, and laced up boots of white and gold. Hair towered, and you couldn't slide past a single look without a string of pearls.
11. Dior Spring Summer 1998
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Mink-lined coats, hoop-skirts and skimmed in waists comprised the 20's fantasy-storyline of Dior Spring/Summer 1998. Some models descended down a marble staircase at the Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris, in creations that paid tribute to Marchesa Casati — an Italian heiress who reportedly wreathed herself with live snakes. Galliano's dialogue of sculpture and hardware is best imagined in this exuberant display.
12. Anita Mui in Dior 2003
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When the fateful alignment of my two favourites come together, I have to write about it. Galliano for Dior and Anita Mui is a couterier match made in heaven. Their union is one that's criminally underdocumented. At a time when the fashion world did not take the Asian market into any regard, Galliano extended an invitation to Mui to sit front-row at all of his shows in Paris. Galliano had praised the Hong Kong singer for being the brightest star in Asia in the nineties, which she was. Anita Mui was a Dior by Galliano Muse until her death.
