The information provided by Zara barely extends over three concise paragraphs: over the next two years, John Galliano, the legendary creative director of Dior, spectacular successor at Maison Margiela, will reimagine the historical creations from his archive. Through "a series of collections," Galliano will "deconstruct and transform" the icons of the A Coruña-based brand. Through "a haute couture process and an author's vision," the pieces will reflect the rhythms of runway fashion. In other words, they will be presented seasonally. The debut, they announce, will take place next September.
Speculation about Galliano's professional future had been circulating for a year and a half. The Gibraltarian designer left the creative direction of Maison Margiela after presenting one of his most celebrated collections for the Belgian fashion house. The haute couture proposal for spring-summer 2024 saw ghosts from the Parisian underworlds of the 1930s and 1950s parading in exquisite craftsmanship. In September of that same year, with Galliano's name already purified from past headlines, once again alongside Anna Wintour in front of photographers, after his brand dominated the red carpet at the MET Gala, the house announced his departure.
Unless extended, the collaboration between the Gibraltarian designer and the Galician brand will last for two years.Tzilveszter Makó
After months of media discretion patched with speculations (Was his new destination Versace? Had he already packed his bags for Milan to take the lead at Fendi?), the designer returns to the fashion industry with a two-year contract with Zara. In the last five years, the flagship of the Inditex group has linked up with giants of contemporary creation. Following its partnership with Stefani Pilati, former creative director of Saint Laurent, the gathering of supermodels last year to celebrate its first half-century, collaborations with Kate Moss, Stylenotcom, or the photographer Tzilveszter Makó, the portraitist of Galliano, the Spanish brand continues to forge alliances that, after the disappearance of Uterqüe, renew the concept of accessible luxury with which it was conceived. The runway once again approaches the customer through names, surnames, and an image, materialized also in the stores, redefining Zara against its competitors, also enlisted in the race for major collaborations.
As Madrid's Fashion Week unfolds, Inditex has opened a new chapter in the industry with the name of Galliano. From the Gibraltarian's overflowing creativity, guided by "haute couture processes," one can expect historical touches, filled with references to episodes from European and Eastern history, nods to Spanish folklore, with golden thread loops, embossed and embroidered details, furs, corsets with unpredictable volumes, or hints of English rock from the 1970s. Everything fits into a two-year collaboration.
The Gibraltarian creator was admitted to a rehabilitation center in Arizona, United States, in the spring of 2011, after an episode where he made antisemitic remarks towards several women dining in a Parisian restaurant. Among the most scandalous phrases of the night, he even uttered "I love Hitler!" In June of the same year, as reported by The New York Times, Galliano claimed during the trial that he could not remember the insults attributed to him.
What happened was not forgotten. It could not be erased from memory. The scene had been captured on video. At 50 years old, the designer appeared before three judges and argued that the hate crime he was accused of was linked to stress and his alcohol dependence, as well as the use of sleeping pills and diazepam. Two years later, in his first interview after the silence, he admitted that it was "the worst thing I have ever said in my life, but it was not my intention to say it. Now I realize that I was angry with myself and said the most evil thing I could say. [...] When my assistant showed me the images, I vomited. I was paralyzed with fear." That encounter with the American edition of Vanity Fair, he acknowledged, was also his first conversation with a media outlet since sobriety. The episode concluded with a fine of around 6,000 euros and the loss of his position as creative director at Dior and at John Galliano, the brand he had founded.
After his rehabilitation and with the support of Anna Wintour, who, according to The Guardian, pushed for a collaboration with Óscar de la Renta in 2013, as well as the Condé Nast publishing group, the designer's career began to rebuild. Shortly after, Maison Margiela announced his appointment as the new creative director. He left the maison in September 2024.
"Galliano's figure," reflects Ana Velasco-Molpeceres, historian and author of Ropa vieja: historia de las prendas que vestimos, "draws from the time before the internet as we know it today. His shows for Givenchy, Dior, and his own brand were very recognizable on television and in magazines, where he was labeled as the enfant terrible, which is a marketing strategy where surprise does not surprise." The collaboration with Zara, however, did not appear in the fashion industry's crystal ball. To his already consummated social resurrection, a revitalized capacity for surprise was also attributed.