Though it’s only May, it feels safe to say that fashion in 2024 has been marked by one name above all others: John Galliano. With a jaw-dropping Margiela couture collection in January that many heralded as a reset for the fashion industry in a return to theatrics and world-building in a time of overwhelmingly commercial collections, Galliano started the year off strong. Appearing on red carpets for press tours and awards season alike, dressing celebrities like Anya Taylor-Joy, Galliano’s year continued strong, ultimately making it to the 2024 Met Gala.
The annual fundraising event is widely known as fashion’s Super Bowl. Although the celebrities and socialites who attend the event are technically there to fundraise for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, if we were to name a winner, it would be say anyone besides Galliano (I could make a strong argument for Thom Browne, but I digress). Dressing co-hosts Bad Bunny and Zendaya (her first look was inspired by Galliano’s Dior, and her second was from his Spring/Summer 1996 Givenchy collection), along with live stream host (and spring 2024 couture model) Gwendolyn Christie, Kim Kardashian, and Ariana Grande, Galliano was the name to know at this year’s Met. For any designer or creative, these achievements would be notable, but for Galliano in particular, the waters run much deeper.
In John Galliano’s 40 years in the fashion industry, which began with his heralded graduate collection from Central Saint Martins in 1984, he has seen some of the highest highs and lowest lows. As a fashion illustration student at Saint Martins, he was not supposed to produce or show any garments with the design students’ graduate collections. Translating his drawing skills into draping and pattern making, his collection, inspired by Napoleon and French Romanticism, was chosen to close the graduate show. Vogue’s global editor-at-large, Hamish Bowles, was studying at Saint Martins two years below Galliano and still regards Galliano’s 10 graduate looks as one of the top five shows he has ever seen. It was abundantly clear to industry professionals, Galliano’s talent was unlike any seen before, and the show served as the launch platform for a meteoric path to success…but it was far from a straight shot. While his work was widely appreciated within the industry, he struggled with commercial viability, and within a few seasons, he no longer had the funds to produce another show. With the help of André Leon Talley and Anna Wintour, he produced his next show, in which he only used one black fabric for all the garments. Unbeknownst to Galliano at the time, Bernard Arnault was in attendance and took note of Galliano’s talent.
Soon after, Galliano was given the opportunity to take over at Givenchy after Hubert Givenchy, making him the first Englishman to lead a couture house since Charles Frederick Worth in the 19th century. After just two seasons there, he went on to become the creative director of Dior, and none other than Alexander McQueen succeeded him at Givenchy.
Galliano’s Dior was nothing short of legendary, breaking boundaries and expectations. In the words of supermodel, long-time collaborator, and friend Kate Moss, Galliano’s work is “fantasy, and that’s what fashion should be.” Galliano’s work is genius (a word not used lightly). He tells stories and builds worlds that the vast majority of the population could simply never imagine. While his talent has brought him almost god-like adoration, John Galliano’s humanity is what makes his story particularly interesting.
Having grown up in an abusive household, Galliano’s shows, though incredible, consistently had themes of escape. After leaving home, he entered the world of fashion, an industry known for its intensity. This intensity pushes most to their limits and others to a breaking point. While working at Dior, Galliano also maintained his namesake brand, designing more than eight collections a year for both on top of custom work and the hours of planning required to stage shows as grand and theatrical as his. During the more than 15 years Galliano worked at Dior, he reached great new heights and reinvigorated the brand. He also experienced immense grief, losing his peer and friend, Alexander McQueen, as well as his father.
Galliano’s father’s death in 2003 came less than a month before fashion week, and rather than taking a break, he traveled to the funeral and returned to Paris the next morning for his show. Considered shy by both himself and his peers, Galliano took to drinking and substance use to cope with the mounting pressures and spotlight of his success and grief. If the design and production process before the show was the build-up and the show the high, the post-show was Galliano’s crash. He turned to drugs and substances to cope, ultimately leading him into a lifetime of addiction.
In December of 2010, in the thralls of addiction, Galliano was caught on video on more than one occasion, drunkenly making antisemitic and racist remarks towards strangers. He was arrested in Paris and ultimately went to trial for antisemitism and was subsequently found guilty in September 2011. A year later, when the comments publicly surfaced, he was fired from his role at Dior. Though he claims to have no memory of the incidents, the gravity of his comments was clear. While his habits of substance abuse were killing his insides, the remarks he made did the same for his reputation. He faced (justified) scrutiny, and it was unclear if he would return to the industry. Soon after his removal from the house, Galliano left Paris for an Arizonan rehab program. In the months following, he faced his addiction and has been sober ever since. Philippe Batel, an addiction specialist who met with Galliano during the process of his trial, saw these comments as a form of social suicide.
In an effort to make amends, he met with the Anti-Defamation League and began taking classes with a Rabi to educate himself on Jewish history and the Holocaust. After a two-year industry hiatus, he made his first move to return in 2013 with a residency in New York at Oscar de la Renta. After helping the brand prepare for their Autumn/Winter 2013 show (which was well-received by critics), he eased his way back. A year later, he was appointed as creative director of Maison Margiela, a position which he still holds today.
In the almost ten years since joining Margiela, Galliano has redeemed himself in the eyes of many, eventually working his way back into the mainstream. While he has largely remained faceless since coming to Margiela, his name has grown increasingly prominent. This path of redemption led him to the infamous couture show in January, a documentary about his career and life that premiered in March, and of course, fashion’s biggest event, the Met Gala.
While John Galliano’s life and career have seen some of the highest highs and lowest lows imaginable, it is ultimately a story of nuance and redemption. While fashion is known to have a short memory when it comes to controversy, his domination in the past six months, coinciding with a documentary that digs deep into his worst moments, is perhaps a testament to fashion’s ability to forgive, not forget.
It is indisputable that Galliano’s remarks were heinous. To many individuals who have uttered such hateful words–of which Galliano is merely one of many–this could easily be passed off as a drunken comment, one they might never have to think of again. As any marginalized person can attest, existing on the receiving end of these remarks is not a lone occurrence, but a lifetime. As Galliano was a public figure when he was filmed making these comments, though his altered state kept him from remembering them, he too will not be able to escape the fact that these words left his mouth. But no level of status or success will ever excuse such hate, nor will it ever outweigh the experience of the groups of people for whom such comments are merely a drop in the bucket of marginalization and oppression over centuries. Had he been less white or less masculine, it’s difficult to imagine the general public or the industry being quite so open to a second chance.
John Galliano’s life is not a narrative of brushing past hatred, nor is it one of irredeemable cancellation. His story encompasses deep shame, fear, cowardice, perseverance, and atonement. His redemption and return are a chronicled lesson in dialectics, emphasizing the importance of nuance, and the ability to hold seemingly opposing truths simultaneously. What Galliano did was a horrific display of hatred and he can still earn a second chance. In the words of Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large for the Washington Post, “if you believe that he should be able to move on, and believe in giving him another chance, you also still can feel deeply for what he said. It’s possible to hold these two conflicting thoughts in your mind at the same time.”
Words by Flora Medina
Graphics by Aubrey Lauer