Ghosts of Couture glorious past were revived and released on the catwalk on January 12th 2015 when John Galliano returned to us. Fashion needed him. We needed him!
We had a very sartorially shy Galliano in his first collection for Margiela. Spring 2015 Couture, although masterfully executed and playfully conceived, was still restrained. Although undoubtedly the best choice for the Maison that changed its creative director and its name (becoming Maison Margiela from Maison Martin Margiela), Galliano has to struggle back to its old, fun couture ways!
The extravaganza, the provocative perspective, the out-of-the-ordinary approach of fashion is what we missed. On January 12th, we still haven’t satisfied our thirst of everything Galliano! The new, severe, serious, almost dramatic aesthetic he opted for when designing the Spring Summer 2015 Haute Couture Maison Margiela collection is – hopefully – something that can pass. With each season.
See also: Trying to make a comeback, Galliano heads into another controversy!
Decostructive and subversive, the Margiela fashion credo has always been the ground stone of the enigmatic Maison. Galliano himself, although flamboyant and extrovert, has proven to be a complete mystery when he launched in his infamous 2011 drunken declarations. Rehabbed and returned, let’s hope John Galliano is more than the shadow of the Fashion Genius he used to be! Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and President of OTB, the Maison’s mother corporation, trusted Galliano with the group’s errant label. He trusted John would not only keep it together but also make it flourish.
See also: The fabulous wedding dress Galliano created for Kate Moss!
So far, he managed to revisit the house’s signature looks – long sleeves, reinvented items with exterior seams, it was all there! Where was the protest? The rebellion against all fashion luxuries? We trust you, John Galliano! It’s time you trust yourself again! Bring that scenic style beast out and perform that seduction game you once claimed it was your motivation! Forget the crippling reconsideration that had you looking for a new fashion home out of Dior, into de la Renta and now to Margiela!
Stay and Seduce us! (images Indigitalimages via style.com)
UPDATE: Everything I suspected about Galliano is confirmed by this picture taken at the end of his Spring 2015 Couture Show for Maison Margiela! A too-sobered-up Galliano appeared, in a white lab coat, just like Margiela wore, making a very brief appearance, like rehearsing the Belgian designer’s legendary discretion (Margiela never came out at the end of his shows, he was fiercely discrete). Maybe that’s where Galliano is heading? I’d be perfectly fine with that as long as he delivered real fashion, not the shadow of a once magnificent designer! Thank you so much Adriana for looking it up and bringing it to us! Truly a rare gem!
Galliano faces the guests at his Couture 2015 show for Maison Margiela as photographed by Cecile Narinx
7 comments
I am on the fence. Never thought he was going to play with ugliness and untidiness at such a deep level. There are too many references to Basquiat , which work brings me an acute discomfort, a really distressing sensation.
The first look and those cutoff jeans ( not posted here) are just lame to me. On the other hand the red transparent dress looks really beautiful and with the right ( well, what we consider as right nowadays) stylism could translate in something wearable. But then, maybe any of these pieces are meant to be worn? Are they just a manifesto ? Too many questions to my provincial mind…
I have to check out the show again since I took a brief look at it for the first time this morning and was not really impressed. Also I read some reviews. I read about the reference to Basquiat too. Due to other things I totally forgot Galliano’s first show for now Maison Margiela if not my favorite Dutch fashion journalist Cécile Narinx (Harper’s Bazaar) has been a guest in a favorite daily show last Friday to talk about Galliano’s return.
She was the only Dutch journalist allowed to be present at the show and is also the only one who photographed a demure Galliano in his white dust cloak. The traditional look of the Margiela team. As also the master himself wore. Galliano appeared very brief so Cécile proudly showed off the photo and told that many other fashion editors asked for her photo. I tried to find it for you girls. Gonna try on to show the new Galliano, so totally the opposite of his extravagance persona walks at the end of his shows.
Well, it’s not uncommon a person that has gone through drug and alcohol abuse and then rehab is a totally different, new persona. The drugs and alcohol had already changed him. The extravagant elegant chic of his ’90s years and his last shows were already different and over the top as well as his on stage persona. Thus before rehab. Perhaps this is a man who’s trying to trust himself and does not want or can not go back to his old style.
Going to try to find that demure photo and watch the show again, times changes, the old days don’t come back, the ‘old’ Galliano won’t come back. Let’s see what happens the next show..
I am not expecting the old John Galliano to be back. I was expecting the work shown to be more elaborated , not necessarily glamourous, that is another department alltogether .
The deconstructed jackets are nice and you can see the work and the thinking involved in the making. That firts beige jacket with plastic cars is plain and lame in my opinion. It is not even provocative.
I still think Galliano and Schiaparelli would be a much better fashion marriage.
Glad that he is back, and is creating fashion again.
Ana, I think I gave up the idea of ‘wearability’ – reading you, I realized I saw those cropped jeans and the tassel shorts and asked myself what were those doing in an Haute Couture Show, but then again, what were the tiny cars doing there? I somewhat expect Galliano to play with fabric. A LOT of fabric, a lot of sartorial eccentricity,…
Adriana, if his genius came from a bottle or a sachet, I would be really sad to discover the ‘new deprived Galliano’ .. But somehow, I think that those were just silly ways to escape or hide himself, not to enhance his fashion vision… What do I know, after all? I’ll try to keep an eye out for the next show, like you said!
Thank you so much for the picture – I read about his brief appearance, about the lab coat, but now that I actually saw the image, there’s a new dimension of ‘sober’ in my head!
Ellington, he is back, but not so much creating as we can tell…
Kpriss ; the tiny cars were in alusion to the re-use of discarded materials which was a constant in the work of Margiela.
If you remember, a long long time ago, I sent this link, where you could see that at one of his first collections Margiela surprised everyone with a vest made entirely of wire and broken porcelain, questioning one the basis of fashion system itself, the use of fabrics.
Ana indeed, I remember – and so it was the case, with Margiela. I can push forward and think of the tiny cars as part of the garment – but I was really expecting something less ‘functional’ – like in the case of the porcelain vest – there was genuine sartorial intent, au lieu of fabric and thread, there was wire and porcelain. Whereas here, the tiny cars don’t substitute the thread, even thought they follow its path…
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