Christian Dior
Christian Dior Designer: On the Doorstep?
The black and white, filmic Christian Dior haute couture show on Monday marked nearly a year since John Galliano left the brand in disgrace.
But Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, confirmed that there would be no announcement about a new designer this week and that the “suspense” would continue.
After a rigorous, correct and undeniably “Dior” show, this question must be asked: Is the elusive successor on the doorstep?
The collection by Bill Gaytten, Mr. Galliano’s right hand for his entire career, was way ahead of the previous couture show, which was a romp that looked as if it had been done by a bunch of art college kids.
This version was technically persuasive: an x-ray image of the essence of Dior, from the famous Bar Jacket, sleek and chic in black alligator, to romantic dresses, light as the proverbial feather. One had a full skirt printed with Christian Dior’s maxim, defining “elegance” as the right combination of crucial factors, including “naturalness and simplicity.”
Neither was Mr. Galliano’s forte and most fashion folk feel that the former designer would, in any case, have had to calm his excess to take the brand ahead.
In every sense, this show on the first day of the brief couture season was Dior Light. There was not much personality or charm, yet a careful rendition of the codes of the house, including houndstooth check created with embroidered beading. The lush, full skirts, which shocked the world in 1947, would have given those post-war women the vapors if the skirts had shifted transparently over the legs, as in this 2012 summer show.
Yet this couture collection was surely client-friendly (even if that means asking for a silk lining.)
“I loved the gray one — the third one,” chorused the front-row guests Cameron Diaz and Bar Refaeli, referring to full-skirted dresses, cinched at the waist and offered first in white and then black.
That cinematic effect — what Mr. Gaytten called “like playing with the photocopier” — both suggested a graceful Grace Kelly world and summed up the positive/negative qualities of the show: It was technically a model of perfection with some exceptional effects, like sequins trapped against the breasts, but it was emotionally barren.
And yet with other projects, like the graphic, colorful accessories produced by Delphine Arnault working with the Berlin artist Anselm Reyle, could Dior use a solid, maybe even stolid, couture collection as a backdrop?
Other houses, like Gucci, have decided that internal promotion can work as well as bringing in an outside designer. And if the rumors are true that seven designers already approached have either been turned down or backed away, Mr. Gaytten himself, trained in couture, might be the best person to drink and digest the poisoned chalice.
Donatella Versace brought her Atelier Versace collection back to Paris with panache. Sexy, colorful, gleaming with metal and twinkling with ceramic paillettes, the dresses were as defined for the red carpet as for the golden stairway down which the models teetered.
The sensational gowns worn by Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman at the Golden Globes were just a foretaste of this new collection, which Ms. Versace said was destined for a fresh, young couture clientele, often from Russia.
“People have not stopped dreaming,” the designer said, to justify this extravagance during economic turmoil.
Never has a collection been better described as a “body of work.” It seemed that Ms. Versace’s eyes were always on the womanly curves, which she caressed with curving metal at the hips or displayed through strips of hand-embroidered lace running from waist to ankle. When legs were in view, three separate parts of a sandal climbed from instep to knees. The actress Abbie Cornish could not take her eyes off the tomato-red slither of a dress or a romper suit in vivid yellow.
It was a Versace tour de force that came, said the designer, as a reaction to her H&M collaboration’s appeal to young clients. But don’t count on finding a silver mermaid dress in the fast-fashion stores.
The precise tailoring of Bouchra Jarrar , softened this season with fur collars and wisps of silk, confirm her position as a woman-for-women designer.
Made-to-order tailoring, which is having such a boost with male clients, is mostly left out of current couture. But Ms. Jarrar aims to carry forward the tradition, using slim, firm lines in a collection that might suit a stylish female executive rather than an oligarch’s wife.
Using fabrics like simple gray flannel or denim blue wool, but softening the coat or jacket with fur at the neck, Ms. Jarrar sent out tailored pants — perhaps adding a leather harness to give the outfit some fizz. Silken dresses in face-powder colors looked soft and pretty but the strength was in the streamlined daywear tinged with turquoise and green.
One might have craved a dash of madness but the elegant proportions were an admirable example of client friendly couture.
Quoting Marcel Proust is always a dangerous game for a designer — especially when the translation of a phrase about “only women who do not know how to dress are afraid of colors” was headed: “Color Therapy.”
In the hands of the young designer Alexis Mabille , that came down to the fuchsia pink duchess satin gown that opened the show with a matching, mighty flower hat and makeup. When that outfit was followed by oxblood, coral, or blue, with face to suit, the effect was distracting.
Yet, at his simplest, Mr. Mabille can make pretty evening dresses, embroidered with the flowers that were the more genuine theme. Chantilly lace inserts and layers of organza were a more successful way to play with youthful elegance than Proust’s advice on color coding.
New Spring 2012
New Spring 2012 Campaigns: Tom Ford, Mulberry, John Galliano
Though spring 2012 ad campaigns have been rolling in since before Christmas, latecomers like Tom Ford, Mulberry and John Galliano have most certainly positioned themselves as frontrunners in the ad game, if there was one. I’m still most wildly impressed by the Dominique Dawes action we saw for Chanel’s series of spring ads featuring Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw, but the high-gloss tone of Tom Ford’s images, shot by none other than the man himself (as we’d expect, if he’s not starring in them), make for quite a competitor. And besides, Mirte Maas looks pretty good for someone that’s getting her ankles bit – literally.
For Mulberry’s saccharine images, Lindsey Wixson reacquaints herself with ice cream (as though you could forget that Terry Richardson-lensed cover for i-D magazine) alongside Frida Gustavsson, and Constance Jablonski and Benjamin Eidem get Gonzo’d up for John Galliano’s solo spring image, shot by Sebastian Kim. Take a look at the new campaigns below!
Jane
Return of the Red
Jane and Lisbon go to each suspect that they interviewed and show them the gold feather. One by one they all act confused that Jane is showing them a feather. Jane’s final stop brings him to Creepy Tony’s palace of teenage horrors. Tony is unfazed by the feather, but Sasha, who must be involved in the longest photo shoot in histoy, freaks out and tries to run. She is apprehended and taking back to the office where she admits to killing Wyck because he found a younger model to wear his dresses. This is a totally reasonable excuse for killing a man.
Just as the case is wrapping up Jane gets a call from Roslyn, saying that Roy, the man Jane believes is Red John, is at her house. Jane and Darcy go there together and find Roslyn alone in the house. She said that Roy is gone, but they find the guy from the morgue dead in the closet. I knew he was goner. Good night sweet morgue worker, we hardly knew ye.
It looks like Red John is back and starting to wreak havoc once again, but we’ll see if the story picks up steam anytime soon. It is nice having two weeks in a row with episodes that aren’t interrupted or followed by five weeks of nothing.
Fashion Mafia
Creeper Alert
The next person on the list is a creepy photographer named Tony Redgrave. He is clearly inspired by real-life professional creep Terry Richardson. I just realized that I’ve mentioned Couture, Terry Richardson, and John Galliano in one review. I don’t know if I should be proud of my vast fashion knowledge or be embarrassed. Anyways, Tony is busy photographing a distraught model named Sasha who started her career with Wyck. Terry creepily denies any wrong doing so Lisbon and Jane moves on.
Meanwhile, Darcy is still on the Red John case and interviews a random morgue worker about Jane and Roslyn, the blind girl, about coming in to check a body. This character seems really inconsequential, so I predict bad things. She follows this up by talking to Roslyn, and starts to realize the obvious that Jane is a dirty liar.
Fashion Mafia
Cho and Rigsby get a bead on Liu due to his phone. It seems The Dark Knight is real and the police are truly watching our every move through our iPhones. They find Liu in the compromising position of being held under water by the Chinese mafia. Liu is pulled up for air and says that they are just having one of those strange parties that you can only find on Craigslist.
The take the men into their office and Cho starts to interrogate them. I’m guessing that Cho was picked because of his great interview skills and not because he is also Asian. It turns out that the Chinese mobsters have diplomatic immunity and are let go after Jane gives them the test of looking at the feather that was found with the body. They do not react so he says that they are not the killers.
The Mentalist
‘The Mentalist’ Recap: Beauty and the Beast
On this week’s episode of The Mentalist, the CBI team falls into the fickle and strange world of high fashion. Can Jane’s powers of observation break through the thick facade of people who look down on the general public? Let’s find out!
Trouble in the Bay
This week the team is sent to Oakland to investigate the murder of Wyck Theissens, whose name drips of the pomposity of some high society polo player. Wyck was a former Couture fashion designer was trying to make his big comeback in the warehouse of a shady renter named Mr. Liu. My Liu claims that the teenagers that Wyck employed are the culprits. Cho says that a gold feather was found in Wyck’s mouth, and Jane soon discovers a secret room full of high fashion dresses.
As Jane goes out to find the rascally kids that worked with Wyck, our old FBI friend Agent Darcy is still working on the Panzer murder and trying to learn more about Red John. It looks like this is one case that Jane won’t be able to shake off with his sly smiles and winks.
The Usual Suspects
Jane finds Wyck’s young assistants, but they were arrested on the night of the murders. No, they aren’t hardened criminals. Instead they are art students how decide to rage against the machine at the Occupy protests in the city. How topical of you, Mentalist! It turns out that Wyck was working on a new line to re-launch his career, but in the meantime he was making knock-off dressed for Mr. Liu. Damn you Liu! It’s people like you who create extremely high markets for fashion and electronics! Not only is Liu looking more shady, but he has also disappeared.
Lisbon and Jane then go to speak to a couple of guys who were responsible for Wyck losing his fashion street cred a few years earlier. (Is fashion street cred a thing? If not, it is now.) These men are Guy Duval, who had an argument with Wyck the night before the murder, and Junior Acosta, who released an embarrassing video of Wyck bad mouthing people. Not John Galliano-Nazi embarrassing, but still bad.. Duval claims that he was fond of Wyck and his work, and Acosta said he had no reason to kill him. Acosta then proves this point by pulling a knife on Jane. Not a good way to get out of a murder rap my friend.
EMMA JOHNSON
EMMA JOHNSON: John Galliano may no longer be in
charge but j’adore Dior Couture
WHEN I was a little girl, I dreamed of having a “sticky out” dress. Blame it on Deborah Kerr in The King and I, or the endless afternoons spent watching MGM musicals with my nana.
Scarlett O’Hara may also have had a hand in nurturing this obsession.
Barring one pink bridesmaid’s dress, though – the diameter of which was not a patch on Kerr’s or Scarlett’s – I never got one.
But now a sticky out dress is within my reach. Should I suddenly come into £50,000 or so, that is.
Because the dresses unveiled at Christian Dior’s Paris couture show this week are the stuff my childhood dreams were made of.
Almost a year since John Galliano’s dishonourable discharge, his former right-hand man and acting creative director, Bill Gaytten, plundered the Dior archives for his second couture collection for the legendary fashion house, sending an array of to-die-for dresses down the runway.
The gowns took their cues from the iconic collections of Mr Dior himself, the New Look that made the designer’s name back in the late 1940s.
Revered fashion writer Colin McDowell went so far as to say they were copied. (“I could show you a picture of every single one of those dresses from the 1950s,” he told the Telegraph) but agreed that they worked.
Gaytten has described the collection as “an X-ray vision of Dior” because the sheer fabrics allow us to see the construction of the pieces.
Well, X-ray marks the spot for me. I can’t remember the last time a fashion designer made me catch my breath like this.
That said, it wasn’t all ball-gowns, there were also cute full-skirted cocktail dresses and elegant suits.
If I won the Euromillions lottery, I’d buy the lot and wear it everywhere from St Tropez to Sainsbury’s.
The dresses were so beautiful they even managed to (briefly) silence gossip about who should eventually take over as Dior’s creative director.
Although Gaytten has been in charge ever since Galliano’s departure following his arrest and later conviction for making anti-Semitic comments, as yet he has not been confirmed as his permanent successor.
Louis Vuitton’s creative director, Marc Jacobs, and Raf Simons, of Jil Sander, have both been tipped for the role, but poor Gaytten had been considered by many to be out of the running.
Well, this week’s show is one hell of a job application.
The first time around, Dior’s New Look was ruthlessly ripped off, with the nipped-in waists and full skirts going on to become the silhouette of the 1950s.
Whether that will happen this time, though, I am not sure.
I can’t imagine how Primark and Topshop could knock up frocks like this at pocket money prices.
Where I do think we will be seeing these dresses again is next month’s Academy Awards.
Cameron Diaz was among the A-listers on the front row in Paris, and I fully expect to see a number of Gaytten’s masterpieces sashaying down the red carpet at the Oscars.
And, looking at the size of those skirts, I think they’re gonna need a bigger carpet.
Paris Fashion Week
How long can Dior thrive without a couturier?
Ten months after John Galliano was sacked over a racist outburst, Dior has yet to name a new chief designer — but sales are booming. Which begs the question: how long can the French fashion house thrive without a couturier at the helm?
At Paris Fashion Week in September, Christian Dior’s chief executive Sidney Toledano batted away questions about Galliano’s succession, saying the fashion house would take the time it needs to find the right fit.
The following month Dior — a crown jewel of Bernard Arnault’s luxury empire — posted a turnover of 705 million euros ($890 million) for the first three quarters of 2011, up 21 percent on the period in 2010. Retail sales were up by 27 percent.
Buoyant sales suggest Dior has managed to limit fallout from the Galliano scandal, sacking him as soon a video emerged of him hurling anti-Semitic slurs at patrons in a Paris bar, and strongly condemning his outburst.
Since then, the British designer’s former right-hand man Bill Gaytten has overseen its collections, sticking to house “codes” from Dior red to the classic nipped-waist bar suit.
For the historian of fashion Lydia Kamitsis, Galliano may no longer be there, but Dior can still draw on “all that he brought it in terms of product, of image or general artistic direction.”
That said, experts warn the house cannot carry on forever without artistic direction, especially when it comes to haute couture
Looking back a few decades, Chanel carried on selling suits at a brisk pace after Coco Chanel’s death in 1971 — but in creative terms the house was at a standstill until the arrival of Karl Lagerfeld 12 years later.
“You can manage without a designer for a season or two,” argued Serge Carreira, a luxury sector expert and teacher at Sciences Po university in Paris. “But there is a limit, a brand must be regularly refreshed, renewed.”
For the time being, he says Dior is reaping “the rewards of a considerable repositioning undertaken since the mid-2000s,” building on the brand’s identity and developing internationally, especially in China.
“A dynamic that was set in motion well before Galliano’s departure,” he stresses.
The success of the Lady Dior bag and the perfume J’adore — one of the world’s top-selling fragrances — shows that “the brand has an engine”.
Patricia Romatet of the French Institute of Fashion sees Dior’s variety as a key strength, as exemplified by the very different actresses who embody the “face” of the brand in its ad campaigns.
Charlize Theron offers a “glamorous ultra-femininity”, Natalie Portman a “more consensual feminity”, Marion Cotillard brings “classy, French sophistication” and the American Mila Kunis a touch of youth.
The brand’s variety — despite the lack of a designer — is also the sign of the “highly professional shadow workers who keep the company’s business flourishing,” said Romatet.
She suggests Dior could emerge stronger from its designer-free stint.
“The pause gives it some breathing space, and could enable it to take a new direction, to start afresh from a blank slate.”
Belgium’s avant-gardist designer Raf Simons is currently tipped by the fashion media as favourite to succeed Galliano.
The Gibraltar-born, London-bred Galliano, meanwhile, has vanished from sight, despite the best efforts of the planet’s papararazzi to track him down.
Floored by what he said was a triple addiction to drink, drugs and medicines — which he blamed for his hateful outburst — Galliano headed into detox after he was dismissed by Dior.
Looking drawn, he made a brief appearance at his Paris trial in June, but was not there to hear the verdict in September when the court handed him a suspended fine for making anti-Semitic insults.
Court case aside, the designer has resurfaced only to attend the July wedding of his friend Kate Moss, telling Vogue magazine that making the supermodel’s dress had been a form of “creative rehab”.
“She dared me to be John Galliano again,” he said. “I couldn’t pick up a pencil.”
John Galliano New Spring 2012
New Spring 2012 Campaigns: Tom Ford, Mulberry, John Galliano
Though spring 2012 ad campaigns have been rolling in since before Christmas, latecomers like Tom Ford, Mulberry and John Galliano have most certainly positioned themselves as frontrunners in the ad game, if there was one. I’m still most wildly impressed by the Dominique Dawes action we saw for Chanel’s series of spring ads featuring Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw, but the high-gloss tone of Tom Ford’s images, shot by none other than the man himself (as we’d expect, if he’s not starring in them), make for quite a competitor. And besides, Mirte Maas looks pretty good for someone that’s getting her ankles bit – literally.
For Mulberry’s saccharine images, Lindsey Wixson reacquaints herself with ice cream (as though you could forget that Terry Richardson-lensed cover for i-D magazine) alongside Frida Gustavsson, and Constance Jablonski and Benjamin Eidem get Gonzo’d up for John Galliano’s solo spring image, shot by Sebastian Kim. Take a look at the new campaigns below!
John Gallano Blog
For nine months, the Dior fashion house has struggled to find a successor for the role of creative director, after John Galliano was fired for his highly publicized anti-Semitic slurs. Finally, according to reports by Forbes and the Telegraph, Dior has found a replacement in Raf Simons.
The saga began in February this year, when, in a crowded Parisian café, John Gallano, Dior’s leading creator, was secretly filmed making horrendous anti-Semitic statements. “I love Hitler,” he announced to a nearby Jewish couple. The video was published on YouTube, and soon after, Galliano was fired from Dior. In September, he was also convicted of making anti-Semitic comments, a criminal offense in France.
When the first video emerged of John Galliano’s anti-Semitic slurs, the fashion world was shocked and appalled, and rightly so. But did the media blow this story out of proportion?
The “hidden anti-Semitism of the fashion world” became the leading angle in a media storm that erupted following the video’s YouTube release. The flurry of news coverage concerning Galliano’s comments reached the point of overload: everywhere you turned, there was another article about modern forms of anti-Semitism. A simple news search for “Galliano” on the date of the video’s release – February 28, 2011 – yields upwards of fifty articles.
Politics Daily issued an editorial comparing Galliano’s outburst to rising right-wing anti-Semitism in Europe. But, while there may indeed be rising anti-Semitism in Europe, is it right to say that a drunken man’s rant in a bar is indicative of such a trend?
The court presiding over Galliano’s trial held that the media coverage was excessive. As it was reported by Independent, the court took into account “the fact that his (Galliano’s) racist remarks – however unpleasant – had been intended for just a handful of people. The fact that they had been given “extreme publicity” all around the world was “not the fault of the accused.”"
Did we go overboard? Eva Green, a Jewish actress, said in an interview with The Observer that Galliano was very drunk when he made the comments in question, and personally thought those who put up the video were exploiting the man.
Fashion
The fashion world is filled with Jewish designers, from Diane Von Furstenburg to Zac Posen to Ralph Lauren. Can a man such as Galliano who works in such an industry really be so staunchly anti-Semitic? Of course he can (many friendships between Jews and non-Jews in pre-Holocaust Europe didn’t affect whether or not, in the end, numerous Jews were betrayed). And I also believe that Galliano should be punished, and severely at that. But not to the point where the person gets completely destroyed.
By skewering someone in the media so strongly, we may be doing a disservice. While it is understandable that anti-Semitic language cannot and should not be tolerated, the astonishing amount of media coverage may have only fueled anti-Semitic rumors that the Jewish people are all-powerful, much more so than the “average minority.”
While Galliano absolutely deserved to be fired, perhaps we should have looked upon this event with pity, and not outrage: the drunken ramblings of a man who caused his own fall from grace. And perhaps next time, a more nuanced campaign should be waged. Although we can never accommodate for anti-Semitism, we should instead try to educate, while still expressing condemnation for such actions.
Yael Miller is a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
John Galliano Spring 2012
Galliano Goes Gonzo for Spring 2012
Galliano’s first spring ad has dropped, and apparently the beleaguered brand, which has being run by Dior sans designer John Galliano since his firing last March, is taking inspiration from a rather surprising icon: gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
Starring Constance Jablonski and Benhamin Eidem, the campaign has Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas written all over it: Thompson’s signature convertible, bucket hat, yellow aviators, and Hawaiian shirt (reinterpreted Galliano style, of course) all make appearances, and the press release states that the concept does indeed depict a Los Vegas road trip.
So, apparently Dior isn’t so opposed to abrasive, paranoid, alcohol-fueled loose cannons after all.
Galliano
Disaster-Inspired Costume of the Year: How to Dress
Up as Kanye West’s Debut Womenswear Collection
The fashionable career of Racked contributor Payton Wang began in a typical retail situation—at an independent punk-hippie-run costume/gift shop in Athens, Georgia. Daily tasks included: fighting for air in a cloud of incense, vacuum-packing $10.00 wigs, occasionally sporting a penguin costume (fondly called Pay-Pay at the time) and, oh yeah, coordinating hundreds of costumes for the local mega-Greek weekly themed “socials.” Here, Payton channels those ideas that went unworn into a series of Halloween How-Tos.
So, re-living the downfall of a great designer isn’t for you? We’ve moved on from Galliano. How about re-living the very recent downfall of a brand new designer-slash-guy-who-should-have-stuck-to-his-day-job? That’s right, Kanye West’s Debut Womenswear Collection is our Halloween theme flavor-of-the-week, and we’ve got a costume for every critic.
This week’s costume ideas to choose from are the line-conceptualization costume, individual garments costume, and inspiration costume—including positive and negative review versions. Since Kanye’s collection was pretty much universally regarded as ill-fitting and poorly designed, we suggest those who choose the positive angle wear the same negative suggesting costumes with the addition of some sort of portable speakers blaring West’s song, “Stronger” and forging on (plus this is an excuse to hear Daft Punk all night). This guy is no stranger to haters.
Elements of construction for line emulation will include metallics, bandages, fur, bed sheets, more metallics, nylon zippers, and possibly Mylar—so basically, not a lot of clothing.
John Galliano’s
Designer Bill Gaytten is Leading the Team at John
Galliano’s Label
The folks over at LVMH may have not yet announced John Galliano’s successor at Christian Dior, but they’ve already found someone to replace the Hitler-loving designer at the helm of his own namesake label. Meet Bill Gaytten, the new creative lead at the house of John Galliano. Gaytten has worked with Galliano for the past 23 years. WWD reports:
On Friday, Gaytten took a bow and waved to the crowd at the end of the John Galliano spring-summer men’s wear show, an ode to Sixties London.Sidney Toledano, chief executive officer at John Galliano and Christian Dior, said Gaytten “has been leading the design team” at Galliano and oversaw the men’s collection from conception to runway.
He declined to specify Gaytten’s new title at the fashion house, which is majority owned by Dior. However, sources said it would likely be creative director.
Fired John Galliano
Scandal-Inspired Costumes of the Year: Belligerent-
in-a-Cafe John Galliano, Rehab John Galliano, and
Fired John Galliano
The fashionable career of Racked contributor Payton Wang began in a typical retail situation—at an independent punk-hippie-run costume/gift shop in Athens, Georgia. Daily tasks included: fighting for air in a cloud of incense, vacuum-packing $10.00 wigs, occasionally sporting a penguin costume (fondly called Pay-Pay at the time) and, oh yeah, coordinating hundreds of costumes for the local mega-Greek weekly themed “socials.” Here, Payton channels those ideas that went unworn into a series of Halloween How-Tos.
So you’ve been wanting a new colorful blazer or to invest in one of fall’s many print-on-print wild ensembles, but couldn’t find an excuse to purchase one? Here’s your chance—dress up as our favorite scandalous British fashion designer, John Galliano for Halloween! Any of these outfits would be perfect, and made oh-so-Galliano with the simple addition of any bizarre hat you can get your hands on.
If you’re feeling less flashy, go for an easy, but equally as well-known ensemble, all-black. If in more of a flamboyant mood, the sailor look comes to mind. Regardless of which of his many looks you decide on, make sure a lot of cleavage is involved.
One of the many other choices with your John Galliano costume you have is which scandal? Sure Galliano himself is relevant in fashion, but it wouldn’t be a popular culture Halloween without context. We have belligerent in a cafe Galliano, rehab Galliano, or even fired Galliano to choose from after the jump.
Marc Jacobs and John Galliano
Marc Jacobs: Dior job wasn’t right
Marc Jacobs thinks it was “best for everyone” that he didn’t move to Christian Dior.
For several weeks the American designer was viewed as the frontrunner to replace John Galliano as the head designer at the fashion house. He’s now confirmed he is staying at Louis Vuitton and feels happy with the decision which has been made.
“It’s a great honour to be considered, and Mr. Arnault [chairman of Dior] is a super intelligent man and a very smart man and it was certainly a very great honour for him to know that I was capable – and not only capable but that I am someone that he would have wanted for the job. But I am very happy to be here. There is so much more left to do and building Louis Vuitton into a fashion company is something nobody else can say they really started,” he told British newspaper The Telegraph, before being asked if the staying at Vuitton was his choice.
“Well… it’s a little bit more complicated than that… but we agreed that it was probably best for everyone.”
Marc is now focusing on his work at Vuitton and it’s just been announced that the company is planning a fragrance.
Perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud is working on it and Marc has explained it has been in the pipeline for a long time.
“Perfume is something I wanted to do here since the beginning,” he explained. “I don’t know when it will be launched but we are in the process of working on it – there was a perfume back in the Twenties, a very niche little thing.”
The designer also discussed the upcoming exhibition in Paris which is dedicated to him and the fashion house. Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs will be staged at Musée des Arts Decoratifs from March and will see some of the label’s most iconic pieces displayed.
Dior sacks John Galliano
Dior sacks John Galliano after Natalie Portman refuses to work with designer
But now John Galliano is heading back to the shadows after he was dismissed as Christian Dior’s head designer for drunken and anti-Semitic tirades.
The British star, who was suspended last week, may now find himself making an eagerly awaited public appearance in a Paris courtroom on charges of voicing racist insults. Christian Dior denounced his behaviour as “odious” and said that the designer had been fired with immediate effect.
Galliano’s grip on one of the most coveted jobs in the fashion industry had been weakened by mounting evidence of his inebriated ravings in a bar near his home in Paris’s Marais district.
Two lawsuits were filled by people he had allegedly insulted and a video was released on the internet that showed the designer saying “I love Hitler”. The coup de grace was delivered by Natalie Portman, the Oscar-winning actress who is the face of Dior’s Miss Dior Cherie perfume.
She told the fashion house that she would walk away from her contract unless it cut ties with Galliano.
“I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments,” Portman said. “In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.”
Sidney Toledano, the chief executive of Dior Couture, who is from an eminent Jewish family, said: “I very firmly condemn what was said by John Galliano, which totally contradicts the values which have always been defended by Christian Dior.”
Bernard Arnault, who owns Dior, was understood to be considering cutting his ties with Galliano’s own brand as well. A spokesman for Galliano insisted that his personal show on Sunday, as part of Paris Fashion Week, would go ahead as planned.
Mr Toledano has not yet said whether he will unveil the autumn collection created by Galliano, 50, for Dior in a show scheduled for Friday.
By then, the Paris prosecution service spokeswoman may have announced whether to put the designer on trial for voicing insults of a racist nature in public – an offence that carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of euros 22,500.
An investigation was launched after Geraldine Bloch, 35, and Philippe Virgitti, 41, said that Galliano had insulted them in racist and anti-Semitic terms in La Perle bar last week. The publicity surrounding his arrest prompted a 48-year-old woman to file a lawsuit alleging that Galliano had verbally abused her in the same bar in a separate incident last October.
Although the designer denies using racist or anti-Semitic terms, his case was undermined when The Sun published a video showing what appears to be a third incident from December.
“I love Hitler and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f…ing gassed and f…ing dead,” Galliano told a group of people sitting at the table next to him.
When an unidentified woman asks: “Do you have a problem?” Galliano answers: “With you you’re ugly.” She says: “Where are you from?” Galliano replies: “Your a…hole?”
In the two other incidents it is alleged that a slurring and drunken Galliano leaned over to their tables to insult them – and particularly the women, who he described as ugly – before launching into an anti-Semitic rant.
Mrs Bloch said: “He butted in and asked me to shut my gob, saying that I was a dirty whore, because he couldn’t stand my voice, because I was foul and I shouldn’t even have been born I was so ugly, and cheap and tacky.”
She said that he described her as a Jewish c… and her friend as a f…ing Asian bastard.
Although police cannot find any witnesses to corroborate Mrs Bloch’s claims, an officer said: “Two lawsuits for insults such as dirty Jew, plus a filmed scene of Mr Galliano in a state of advanced drunkenness: all that weaves a rather worrying web around this designer.”
Dior said that it was unaware of Galliano’s disturbing behaviour until last week, but fashion industry sources said that his drunkenness had become common knowledge. “I can’t count the number of times he has had to be carried home,” said one source.
Some commentators suggested that Mr Arnault was already looking to get rid of the Streatham designer, who he plucked from obscurity in the early 1990s.
Galliano’s rock-star poses and once revolutionary shows had become an embarrassment to Dior in the more sober post-crisis era, critics said.
Marcellous Jones, the editor-in-chief of thefashioninsider.com magazine, said: “It marks a dramatic end to one of the greatest errors in the history of the house of Dior in terms of its international reputation.”
Eric Rocheblave, a lawyer specialising in employment law, said: “Dior, which has an international and therefore multiracial customer base, can cite fears of a slowdown in sales to justify this procedure.”
John Galliano Suspended from Dior
John Galliano, the chief designer at Christian Dior since 1996, has been suspended from his duties at the fashion house after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman and making anti-Semitic remarks at an outdoor Paris café last night.
“Dior affirms with the utmost conviction its policy of zero tolerance towards any antisemitic or racist words or behavior,” Sidney Toledano, the Dior chief executive, said in a statement. “Pending the results of the inquiry, Christian Dior has suspended John Galliano from his responsibilities.”
According to French news media reports, Galliano was drinking at La Perle café, a hipster dive near the designer’s home in the Marais neighborhood, when he got into an altercation with a woman. It is not clear why Galliano approached the woman, who was dining with a male companion, or what was said, but a police source told WWD that the woman had filed a police complaint against Galliano for making comments of an anti-Semitic nature. Another account, paints a more sympathetic picture of Galliano, and has the designer criticizing the woman’s handbag after she had called him ugly.
Police are investigating the case before it is handed over to the public prosecutor’s office. No word as yet on the fate of the Dior show on March 4 or on Galliano’s namesake collection, which is slated to be shown two days later.
Fashion designer John Galliano
A French court gives fashion designer John Galliano a suspended fine. He is left with a criminal record but avoids prison for his outbursts in a Paris bar. He was fired from Christian Dior after his arrest.
Reporting from Paris — Fashion designer John Galliano was convicted on Thursday of hurling anti-Semitic insults in a Paris bar in two separate outbursts that cost him his job at the haute couture house of Christian Dior.
The British-born designer was given a suspended fine of $8,400. While he was not required to pay the fine, the conviction leaves him with a criminal record.
Galliano escaped a possible prison sentence after the panel of judges were told he had apologized to the victims of his insults, had “recognized he had a problem” with alcohol and prescription medication and had undergone treatment for his addictions.
The court declared it believed the designer was “generally, neither racist nor anti-Semitic and did not deserve a prison term.”
The designer claimed he had been under the influence of alcohol and prescribed medication at the time of the outbursts – one in October 2010 and a second in February of this year – and could not remember the incidents. After his arrest, the British tabloid newspaper The Sun posted a video on its website showing a separate incident with Galliano telling a customer in a Paris cafe: “I love Hitler.”
At his trial in June, Galliano admitted being addicted to alcohol, sleeping pills and valium. After he was sacked from his job as creative director at Dior in March following his arrest, he spent two months undergoing treatment in the United States.
Galliano was not in the Paris court on Thursday for the verdict. He was found guilty of making “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” and declared to have had “sufficient awareness of his actions” to know what he was doing at the time of the incidents, despite his addiction and his fragile state. But the judges took into account that he apologized to the plaintiffs during the June trial and noted the “values of tolerance” in his work.
He was ordered to pay $23,200 in legal fees to the complainants — three individuals and five anti-racism associations — plus a symbolic one euro ($1.40) in damages to each of them.
Galliano’s lawyer, Aurelien Hamelle, said only that his client is “looking forward to the future” and “will continue to care for himself.”
London Fashion Week
FROM front row (FROW) gossip to fashion snacks, wiwt.com blogger POPPY DINSEY gives us her inside scoop on London Fashion Week.
Friday – Day 1 Paul Costelloe opened LFW and I was lucky enough to be sat by his six gorgeous sons. (Swoon.) The Seventies-inspired collection was equally gorgeous, a neutral palette of silvers and pinks that were innocent with an edge.
Bora Aksu was another highlight with intricate gothy dresses in creams and midnight blues. I nearly knocked over teeny Nicola Roberts on my way out though. How embarrassing.
Saturday – Day 2 The second day started with vintage sweeties as DAKS transported us to the British seaside with Fifties-inspired halterneck midi dresses in their oversized House Check.
Ashish was the usual sparkly affair – half of us watched the models in their sequin floral dresses and the other half watched Paloma Faith.
Jaeger London provided Seventies ladylike chic and Issa London closed the day with Rio-influenced womanly dresses that looked flattering, sexy and wearable.
Sunday – Day 3 Richard Nicoll’s show was a Day 3 highlight. The collection looked as if it was dreamed up in the Sixties by someone imagining the distant future.
Think plastic, neoprene and lurex knitwear in powder pink and baby blue. I spent the evening at a private Jaeger show for Vodafone VIP customers. Oh and I fell over in front of everyone and had to be helped up by two men – 5in heels, rain and cobbles don’t mix.
Monday – Day 4 From a business point of view the most important show of LFW has to be Burberry. I’ll assume my invite was lost in the post.
I did watch the stream online though and what struck me most was how autumnal parts of the collection felt.
The thought of knitwear and jackets may seem depressing, but they’ll be useful! The other great show of the day was Christopher Kane – as with other shows there was a palette of metallic pastel colours. A trend emerging?
Tuesday – Day 5 The final day of womenswear! And I’d just about got used to the cramping in my quads and the blisters on my soles.
Aminaka Wilmont closed the day to raucous applause and other Day 5 highlights included Osman, Meadham Kirchhoff and the exceptionally talented David Koma. Happy Fashion Week! Can I have a burger now?
John Galliano
The British fashion designer John Galliano was convicted by a French court of hurling racial abuse in a Paris bar yesterday, but he received a relatively lenient sentence.
Galliano, 50, who did not appear in court, was given suspended fines totalling €6,000 (£5,240) for making “public anti-Semitic and racist remarks” in February this year and in October 2010. He was ordered to pay a symbolic €1 in damages to his victims and pay the legal costs of five anti-racist organisations who were represented at his trial in June.
His lawyer, Aurélien Hamelle, said: “This is a good decision. It amounts to no penalty.” He said Galliano was now “serene, relieved and pleased that this is all behind him. He hopes to face the future with happiness and forgiveness”.
In a written summary of its verdict and sentence, the court said it had taken into account Galliano’s apologies at the June hearing. It had also taken into account the fact that his racist remarks – however unpleasant – had been intended for just a handful of people. The fact that they had been given “extreme publicity” all around the world was “not the fault of the accused”.
In emotional statements to the court in June, the designer blamed his behaviour on overwork, the pressures of the fashion industry and a triple addiction to alcohol, Valium and sleeping pills. He said that his racist remarks were completely out of character.
Other lawyers suggested that the court may have decided that Galliano, who was fired as chief designer of Christian Dior when the allegations first surfaced in March, had already been punished enough. He will not be expected to pay the €6,000 in fines unless he commits a similar offence. The costs of the five French anti-racist groups are, however, likely to run to tens of thousands of euros.
Christian Dior has still not replaced Galliano and received miserable reviews for its haute couture collection in July. Since the “John Galliano” label also belongs to Dior, it remains unclear what future the Gibraltar-born designer may have in the fashion industry.
At his court hearing, Galliano said he could “hardly remember” his racist abuse of two customers at the trendy Perle bar in the Marais district of Paris.
He said he had since sought medical help. Racist remarks were completely against his character and beliefs, he told the court. “All my life I have fought against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination,” he said.
Géraldine Bloch said the designer had used the word “Jewish” at least 30 times, including accusing her of having a “dirty Jewish face”. Her friend, Philippe Virgitti, said that Galliano had called him a “fucking Asian bastard”. Ms Bloch is not Jewish and Mr Virgitti is not Asian.
Galliano was also accused of calling another woman a “fucking ugly Jewish bitch” in the same bar the previous October.
A videotape appeared to show a third incident in the Perle bar in December. On the tape, Galliano, apparently drunk, says: “… I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be… gassed and… dead.” The tape was not the subject of a separate charge but was shown as circumstantial evidence.
“On this video, I see someone who needs help,” Galliano told the court. “This man is not John Galliano. It’s the shell of John Galliano, someone who has been pushed to the limit.”
The fashion designer said he had been under “huge pressure” since the death of his father in 2005 and the death of a “very dear friend” in 2007.
“I would like to apologise for all the upset this business has caused,” he said.
Sans Galliano
Under longtime creative director , Dior took on almost superhuman proportions, with larger-than-life collections and shows to the scale of the British designer’s prodigious talent. The house returned to human size on Friday, as Galliano’s replacement fielded his debut ready-to-wear effort, a scaled-down spring-summer 2012 collection stripped of excess.
Models in discreet makeup _ not the extravagant war-paint of the Galliano’s years _ sported pretty, wearable skirt suits in neutral shades of chiffon. Gone were Galliano’s maxi-volumes and the over-the-top riffs on outrageous themes, replaced by an appealing array of wearable, sellable clothes.
Galliano was summarily dismissed last March after allegations surfaced he made anti-Semitic and racist comments during a drunken encounter at a Paris watering hole. His longtime right-hand-man, fellow Briton Bill Gaytten, stepped in as a temporary replacement during Dior’s ongoing search for a successor.
As the head of Dior’s women’s studio, Gaytten was behind the label’s disastrous last couture collection _ presented in July to universally terrible reviews _ and so many fashion insiders went into Friday’s show expecting the worst. But those (gleefully) anticipating another train wreck on the catwalk had another thing coming: While the collection won’t go down in the annals of the storied house, it was a totally respectable showing for Gaytten and his team.
They drew on the time-honored codes of the label, sending out variations on the nip-waisted Bar jacket and tulip-shaped skirts in graphic black-and-white checks and soft sandy neural tones. The evening gowns, in powder blue and black organza, were of an understated elegance.
Dior executives have made it clear that Gaytten is but a stopgap measure, to be replaced by a top-name designer. The rumor mill has thrown out the names of practically everyone who’s anyone in fashion _ from Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz to Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci. Trade industry paper Women’s Wear Daily reported a deal was close to being struck with Louis Vuitton’s Marc Jacobs, but no announcement has been made, leading some to speculate negotiations with the superstar New York designer have derailed.
Whatever the status of the search, Gaytten’s strong performance Friday certainly takes the pressure off Dior to find a permanent solution.