John Galliano, the flamboyant designer whose firing from Christian Dior in 2011 created one of the biggest scandals in fashion history, is back.
He’s been hired as the creative director of Maison Martin Margiela, the off-the-wall Belgian design house – and the fashion world is still trying to figure out what it all means.
In case you’ve forgotten (unlikely, we know), Galliano was fired spectacularly from Dior after 15 years in the helm when he was filmed making violently anti-Semitic comments in Paris. He lost control of both Dior and his own label, which has gone on to be a quiet success under his protege Bill Gaytten.
But Galliano, who was found guilty in a Paris court and blamed his rant on a drug-and-alcohol fuelled bender, has never really gone away. He had a three-week stint at Oscar De La Renta last year, and Annie Liebowitz shot him for a huge editorial for Vanity Fair about his time ‘in the wilderness’ (below).
So this is the beginning of Galliano’s second act – but is it the best move?
Some fashion commentators are puzzled. Suzy Menkes, over at Vogue, is bewildered by what on earth Galliano (right) will do at Margiela (left). The label, which was run by the deeply reclusive Martin until 2009, specialises in deconstruction and avant-garde fashion. Galliano, by contrast, is all about spectacle, and refuses to be anonymous: everybody – for better or worse – knows his name.
“What could the two have in common?” wondered Menkes, while at US Vogue Sarah Mower asked, “How will two such disparate visions come together? One way of looking at it is that perhaps they shouldn’t.”
Other insiders are furious. At the newspaper The Guardian, Jess Cartner-Morley is incandescent with rage at the appointment, calling the fashion world’s cheerful, if confused, reaction to the news “absurd”, “astonishing” and “out of touch”.
Galliano, it seems, will never shake the scandal of his past. As much as he says he’d like a ‘second chance’ in interviews, and as much as the owner of Margiela, Renzo Rosso, crows that Galliano is “one of the greatest undisputed talents of all time,” fashion has a very long memory indeed.
However, it’s also willing to overlook some pesky parts of designers’ lives for the sake of the industry and of good art. Coco Chanel had some very dubious associations during the German occupation of Paris, Halston once famously had a servant whose only job was to provide lines of cocaine, and Karl Lagerfeld makes a gaffe almost every time he opens his mouth.
The Galliano appointment reveals a deep split in the fashion world: between those who believe that even the most brilliant people should be held to high ethical standards, and those who argue that geniuses are flawed and the clothes are what really matters.
It’s a divide that has been widening in recent years. Scandals about racism in editorials (Italian Vogue is a particular offender), sweat shop production, the Bangladesh factory tragedy, and the use of underage models have made it clear that, increasingly, the world wants fashion to have a conscience.
One thing is clear: both sides will be following Galliano’s new appointment, to see whether he can ever earn forgiveness – or whether it’s another case of too little, too late.
What do you think about Galliano’s return?
Images: Galliano on the catwalk in happier times, his 2007 collection contrasted with a Margiela piece, and Annie Leibowitz’s portrait of the designer in Vanity Fair.