Although it’s been only nine years since British designer John Galliano and Christian Dior parted ways, his tenure as creative director of the venerated Parisian fashion house couldn’t feel further from the present. It all came to an end in 2011, after the designer was fired following an antisemitic rant, just as the era of Instagram began and important discussions on gender, cultural appropriation and inclusivity rightly increased tenfold. (Galliano has since apologised and made significant efforts to make amends.)
In hindsight, Galliano’s appointment in 1996 was one of the most radical instances of a brand revamp. Dior — once a byword for old-school elegance and femininity — suddenly became a hothouse of British madcap creativity, displaying sometimes genius, sometimes problematic fashion spectacles over the next 15 years.
As the pendulum swings back and a wave of 2000s nostalgia settles in, it’s only natural that, in some ways, the Galliano-era of Dior is inspiring a new generation of fans once again. Fans, such as Dior’s present creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones; curators and stylists, who follow Instagram’s popular @Diorinthe2000s account; and even the diehard style-pundits, who bid on his much-loved saddle bags via eBay, or those newspaper-print slip dresses on Vestiaire Collective.
In prescient timing, two new books look back on Galliano at the height of his Dior years. The first, John Galliano for Dior (Thames & Hudson, out now) — a visually stunning tome by photographer Robert Fairer, who offers a rare backstage glimpse from a time when behind-the-scenes imagery was limited. “The experience was simply the most freeing and beautiful expression of femininity out there,” explains Fairer, who would also photograph the shows for Vogue. “John worked with a team of enchanting and addictive personalities. Everyone was on fire — they were out there working to make the best show, the best collection they possibly could, something they all believed in: a fantasy.”
The second release, Galliano: Spectacular Fashion (Bloomsbury, out 31 October) is an encyclopaedic chronicle of every show by expert auctioneer Kerry Taylor, who explores the intricate stories behind each collection. Both books shine a spotlight on the dreamlike qualities of Dior’s shows at the hands of Galliano, their unique narratives and extreme proportions, and the designer’s collaborations with industry legends, such as makeup artist Pat McGrath MBE.
As the British designer extends his contract as creative director at Maison Margiela, Vogue explores how Galliano’s Dior is inspiring Generation Z as Noughties nostalgia hits peak revival.
1. Fashion at its most spectacular
One of the most remarkable things about Dior during the Galliano period was the lavish extravagance of his fashion shows, which took on a new narrative every season at the creative whim of the designer.
Just as important as the clothes — some of which were more akin to majestic sculptures — was the mise-en-scène, brought to life by theatrical sets designed by Michael Howells, extreme makeup by Pat McGrath, music by Jeremy Healy, hair by Orlando Pita and hats by Stephen Jones. They could sometimes include a steam train driven up from southern France as the ‘Diorient Express’, or a carousel of Gulliver’s Travels-sized furniture for ‘Madame Butterfly’. The clothes were secondary to the overall fantasy of the shows, or as the V&A’s curator of modern textiles and fashion Oriole Cullen puts it in the introduction to John Galliano for Dior: “Unbridled imagination and endless creativity, combined with the unrivalled technical skills of the Dior Haute Couture ateliers, created fantastical garments and fashion shows on a scale that consistently surpassed anything previously seen in the world of high fashion.”
2. The art of balancing high and low
In John Galliano for Dior, fashion critic Colin McDowell is quoted as telling Vogue: “One of the wonderful things he has done at Dior is to combine the vitality of the street and the urban underbelly with the excitement of the pop world, bringing them together with a touch of couture.” Although there was an overwhelming sense of historicism in Galliano’s vision, there was also a radical sense of modernity that saw him introduce references to plastic-packaged pop culture, streetwear, and London club kids.
The Matrix (1999) was seamlessly mixed with Napoleonic military references, 1960s model Edie Sedgwick with Napoleon’s wife Empress Joséphine, 1980s performance artist Leigh Bowery with Chinese opera costumes. Spring/Summer 2000 was inspired by the album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998); half of the show constituting of Dior-monogrammed denim, blinged-out jewellery and introducing the saddle-bit bag that became the saddle bag. “Someone has to take Dior into the 21st century — even if it’s kicking and screaming,” Galliano said in The South Bank Show (1996). Rapper Foxy Brown became a poster girl for the house — even mentioning it in her lyrics for Oh Yeah — and Galliano became an icon for a generation of stars, such as Destiny’s Child, Lil’ Kim, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.
3. A radically rethought attitude to heritage
Before Galliano arrived at Dior, he was briefly given the mantle of Givenchy by LVMH in 1995. It marked the first time a British designer had been given the reins of a French couture house, and was seen as a radical act and a ‘changing of the guard’. It meant that Galliano brought a whole new demographic to the traditional world of Parisian couture, and reinterpreted the heritage of the house with postmodern verve.
“He pushed the respect and reverence required of the venerable house to the limits,” writes Talley in the foreword for John Galliano for Dior. “He decimated the surety of Dior’s legend by smashing through his own standards. It’s as if, when Galliano designs, he pushes himself to the edge of the cliff.” Some of his shows included reinterpretations of the ‘New Look’ as geishas or as retro prostitutes. In an age when heritage is a buzzword and designers continue to delve into the archive, it’s clear that Galliano approached the history of Dior with a different outlook.
4. A fantastical story for every collection
Each of Galliano’s shows went deep into a story, often steeped in fairytale romanticism. At Dior, there were endless resources to bring these fantastical narratives to life, and the result was a kitsch irrelevance, not seen since in the world of high fashion. “Money became no object,” explains writer Kerry Taylor in Galliano: Spectacular Fashion. “The shows became more and more spectacular. His research trips became more far flung and exotic.” Some of those included hiring a hot-air balloon to travel the Nile or voyaging to China to visit Buddhist monks. The result of those trips were bold collections that directly referenced cultures — something that the current zeitgeist has evolved from now that discussions about appropriation are commonplace — such as homelessness, the Maasai people and Native Americans. As a result, Galliano brought Dior to the masses and became newsworthy himself. “If John does Egypt, you’re not just getting Tutankhamun,” continues Taylor. ”It’s about the mummy awakening from the tomb, going shopping in Paris with organza bandages. He’ll take disparate ideas and put them all together to create something exciting or fresh.”
5. Inspiring Dior’s present-day designers
Both Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones, Dior’s current creative directors, have acknowledged the incredible contribution of Galliano to Dior by referencing and reissuing some of his hallmark designs, such as the saddle bag, monogram denim and newspaper prints (which appeared in Kim Jones’s SS20 collection). However, they’re not alone. Taylor, who regularly auctions historic Galliano pieces, insists that there is a wider demand for his work — mainly from museum curators, collectors and creative directors working at other houses. “Even Alexander McQueen would get ahold of [Galliano’s] pieces [before his passing] and take them apart and copy them,” says Taylor. “A lot of designers [now] come and buy his work from me, because it’s so amazingly made.” And who can blame them?
John Galliano for Dior by Robert Fairer (Thames & Hudson, 2019).
Galliano: Spectacular Fashion by Kerry Taylor (Bloomsbury, 2019).
