I wrote this about 10 years ago but since then I’ve changed IT folks twice, changed hosting services, had my site almost disappear into oblivion, and have lost most of those posts from before 2020 (ugh!), so I thought I would revisit this important collection. This was a huge ground-breaking show that never got the right kind of publicity.
Fashion should change about every 10 years or so. That was the pace throughout most of the 20th Century (except during the depression and the following decade of World War II)…and then look what happened – Dior came!
%20Bar%20suit,%20Haute%20Couture%20Spring-Summer%201947%20collection%20by%20Christian%20Dior.%20%E2%94%AC%E2%8C%90%20Photo%20Pat%20English.jpg)
And boy did that change things around. After almost 20 years of the same fashion (look at the audience in the above photo), you think they were ready for change?…you bet they were!
But imagine if after this photo shoot in the streets of Paris before the Dior show took place, Dior himself went out that night for dinner and in a famous, well-patronized restaurant, said that the people who ripped his clothes off his models were pigs (I understand that’s one of the worst things you can call someone in French),. And they were uneducated oafs, peasants who he had no use for and they should be rounded up and kicked out of the city. And while doing that, he was sending out thugs to attack these peasants in the street, but one had been arrested and was singing about how Dior had hired him and some other brutes to go kick the uneducated out of Paris.
Then imagine Dior being drunk and picked up by the paddy wagon at a house of ill-repute and all the way to the police station he’s giving interviews about these people who had attacked his models. To get to the end of it – Dior would have been jailed and then thrown away the key, and we would have never heard of the “New Look” or had a major change in fashion and then Coco Chanel wouldn’t have invented her famous “French Quilted Jacket” and heaven knows what else wouldn’t have happened all because Dior was creating a major scene and nusance.
Fast forward to Spring 2011, Paris, France about 20 years after the first Grunge show (by Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis, 1992), and John Galliano takes the bull by the horn and we finally see something remarkably different – a whole new look.
Wow! Are these not fun? Even the setting is fun. I even love the colorful hosery, such happy colors and a brand new fashionable silhouette that is so fabulous that it makes my heart swoon! I know I don’t have much of a life to let a couple of fancy dresses make my heart swoon, but there it is!
This was one of my very most favorites. Look at this model – she’s not the normal pre-pubescent model. She’s got to be in her late 30’s or 40’s. A major designer (and at the time, Galliano was the toast of Paris), is using an older, more mature model. This is the model reflecting closer to the age group that will be able to afford Galliano’s prices. So it makes total sense. Modeling with the actual age-appropriate models – what a concept!
And then there’s this that I did as an “homage” to this whole show
I loved this outfit and loved wearing it and relished the fact that one major Parisian designer was finally sick of ill-fitting, hip-hugging, torn, ripped clothing. At last, a designer has stepped out of the post-apocalyptic ugly that had gripped our fashion runway for 20 years.
But not so fast. There were other things going on.
As history would have it, Galliano had an anti-Semitic outburst in a cafe just a short time before this beautiful fashion show, and all the fashion innovation was lost and discarded because of the publicity around the outburst. The comments were totally out of anything appropriate or even normal. They were a tremendously offensive outburst, and Dior almost immediately fired Galliano for the comments. They were right to do so, even though it broke my heart. Dior had no choice.
Following the outburst, Galliano revealed that he was addicted to drugs and alcohol and went in for rehabilitation. He made a conscious and very heartfelt effort at rehabilitating not only his drug habits but also wanted and worked hard to make amends for his offensive behavior and remarks. Many designers saw this. They also saw the immense talent around this designer and wished to support his positive moves toward a more responsible life.
About two years later, Anna Wintour brokered a deal between Oscar de la Renta and John Galliano for Galliano to work with Oscar on his Fall/Winter 2013 show. There’s not much reporting on how much Galliano did, but he was there, and the show looks like it had an Englishman’s hand in the tailoring. Simply to have the chance to get back into the business under a huge name like Oscar, gave a lot of street creds to Galliano, and said a lot about his comeback – that was real and sincere. That’s more than what Galliano could ask for, and shortly after that, Galliano when on to work and Maison Margiela where he is still working as the creative director.
Galliano has since been hired by Maison Margiela in Paris and still runs a show in his own name.
He still has that wonderful playful, happy and different silhouette look that was so innovative in 2011 that got lost in all the hoopla. This is from his own website which is sorta fun to peruse!
There is no defense for these kinds of remarks, and I believe that Galliano really doesn’t think this way. And I do believe that he was hooked on all sorts of substances that did not enhance his creativity but allowed him to exist in a very unfriendly and destructive environment. It most certainly didn’t enhance his judgment, and his whole lifestyle was due to collapse – which it did.
That said, the environment he worked in was almost impossible. He was the creative director and head designer of Dior, owned by the famous LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton – a French multinational conglomerate specializing in luxury goods – IOW it’s totally run by the accountants and financiers, financial backers and bankers – everything is geared toward the bottom line). That gives us a lot of information about what it was like to be the creative influence with a bunch of bankers, backers, and financial types hounding you 24/7 with “When are you going to do better?” or “When are you going to have everything ready?” or “When can we expect the show?” and above all, “This better make more money, be more fabulous and be better than anything you’ve ever done!” and if it isn’t then there are all sorts of hell to pay.
Anyone who’s in the least bit creative knows that not only is this not even close to being conducive for creativity, it’s downright destructive for any creative production. This is the environment that Galliano and many other designers at some of the more major houses in Paris found themselves in. Raf Simmons, Alber Elbaz, Jason Wu, and gobs of others. What Galliano’s outburst made clear is that no one can work in this sort of atmosphere and shouldn’t be expected to. For the following decade, it’s been a huge show of revolving doors at Givenchy, Dior, Celine, and Fendi with designers coming and going and then going out on their own. Galliano’s outburst put a huge magnifying glass on that situation creating a real problem for the LVMH brands as well as other luxury corporations that own major fashion houses.
Many an artist has had a tremendous fall and risen to be a much better man. The John Galliano that we see today is not only a much better person but also a much better designer and thank heavens he didn’t have to die to get out of Dior or to survive his ordeal. His great creations are still with us and will be so much fun to watch in the coming decades. This isn’t to apologize for his behavior or excuse it. It was reprehensible. What it did do, is cause him to address his drug and alcohol dependencies and has shown a very bright light on the undue stress, pressure, and complete un-creative atmosphere these corporations place these designers in. One by one, since Galliano has left, those large corporate houses have changed head designers, and it’s led to a better understanding to young designers to think twice and if they do take the realm at these large houses, what to expect, and don’t be surprised to leave in a couple of years.
In the meantime, I still have Spring/Summer 2011 to remind me how pretty clothes are supposed to look!
