After being considered marginal for a long time, John Galliano is now one of fashion's greats. Galliano either amazes or shocks with his collections, but he is never left indifferent.
John Galliano, one of the greats of fashion today, was called marginal for a long time. He graduated from St. Petersburg on a scholarship. After graduating from Martins College, he created his own brand in 1984. Although he won the British Designer of the Year award in 1987, he could not find what he was looking for in England with his designs that revealed his romantic style and decided to try his luck in Paris.
John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer born in Gibraltar. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. Since 2014, Galliano has been the creative director of Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela. Galliano has been named British Designer of the Year four times. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, he was named the fifth most influential person in British culture.
In 1995, he became the chief designer of Givenchy and later of Christian Dior. He held his first show for Dior on January 20, 1997, the brand's 50th anniversary.
Dior's sales quadrupled
Galliano's arrival at Dior was met with skepticism by many. The theatrical costumes he designed for his fashion shows often sparked debates about "Who would wear these?" Galliano gave the best response to these criticisms by quadrupling Dior's sales.
He proved that he could also design wearable clothes with the dresses he designed for celebrities such as Madonna and Nicole Kidman.
He overcame his loneliness by being interested in fashion
The famous designer, who was born in Gibraltar and had problems adapting to England for a long time, to which he immigrated at the age of 6, found salvation in taking refuge in his imagination in those years. His feeling of loneliness ended when he became interested in fashion. Reflecting his colorful personality in his designs and fashion shows, Galliano also likes to surprise the audience with his appearance while greeting them at the end of the fashion show. Sometimes he appears on stage with his dreadlocks, sometimes disguised as a pirate.
Award-winning designer
John Galliano changed his real name, Juan Carlos Galliano, in the early years when he tried to gain a place in the fashion world. Although he could not find what he was looking for in his country, England, Galliano was named British Designer of the Year in 1994 and 1995 after 1987. In 1997, he shared the award with Alexander McQueen, whom he left at Givenchy.
February 2011
Dior fires chief designer Galliano who 'loved Hitler'
French fashion house Christian Dior has fired its chief designer, John Galliano, for making "anti-Semitic slurs".
In the statement made by Christian Dior, the words made by the famous British fashion designer were condemned and it was stated that these words were completely contrary to the company's values.
It was claimed that Galliano also slapped the person he had an argument within a bar.
After the couple filed a complaint on the grounds of both slapping and swearing, Galliano was taken to the police station for questioning and was released after the interrogation.
Later, a clip of John Galliano saying he loved Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was distributed online.
After all these developments, Christian Dior initially dismissed John Galliano.
Oscar-winning Jewish actress Natalie Portman, who starred in advertisements for one of Dior's perfumes, said that Galliano's clip "disgusted and horrified" her and stated that she did not want to be associated with the fashion house again.
February 2024
British Designer John Galliano, who has been away from the fashion arena for many years, made a spectacular comeback with the collection he signed for the Maison Margiela brand at the closing fashion show of the Haute Couture fashion week in Paris.
John Galliano, who once took the Dior brand, where he was the artistic director, to another dimension and caused a change in the fashion industry by challenging traditional codes, was forced to withdraw from the field due to an incident in 2011.
The closing fashion show of the fashion week, where the 2024 summer season collections were presented in Paris last week, caused a stir. The fashion show performance designed by John Galliano, who is considered one of the most important designers of the luxury world, for Maison Margiela and enriched with artistic nuances, also caused old books to be opened.
The incident escalated when the words "J'adore Hitler" (I love Hitler) uttered by Galliano, who was put under police custody for insulting a Jewish couple sitting at the next table in a cafe in the Marais district of Paris, spread as a video on the internet. Lwmh Group, which owns the brand, argued that the star designer's racist and anti-Semitic statements were unacceptable.
Galliano was kicked out without receiving even a penny of compensation, and fashion circles were shaken for months with opposing views, rumors, and polemics that the incident was fiction.