An Ode to John Galliano

Posted by Troy Acree in Fashion, Interesting News | 2 comments

John Galliano produced yet another excellent collection for Christian Dior during the recent Paris fashion week.

To write observations about the dresses and the coats and the headdresses and the jewelry and the shoes would serve little purpose. I can tell you to look for the detail and to notice the explosions of color and the wildness of patterns. I can mention that the collection shows obvious influences from 1920’s flapper style and some exotic prints and colors from India and Asia. The make-up also has its roots in twenties style (and the shapes even remind me of the way makeup is drawn on croquis in the fashion drawing books) and the mechanical or doll-like faces of the models combined with the cuts and fabrics and colors of the dresses give the impression of a soft femininity infected with a dark edge. There is none of the austerity of the New York shows that seemed to be acknowledging the current financial crisis and the whole collection is sexy and dramatic in the best Galliano tradition. But these are only limited observations when you are better served by looking at the pictures or watching the video and really studying these images for yourself. The important thing is to recognize that this is the work of one of the most excellent artists of our time.

Galliano is that rare product of culture that can be called an artist. He creates fashion from a deep sense of beauty – a sense of beauty cultivated by a deep relation with the arts and crafts of many cultures. Galliano consistently opens himself to new influences and he is usually able to seamlessly – even organically – express himself in constantly changing configurations. In this sense, he is a great artist.

His work and his dedication to his work are in the very best artistic tradition of Western culture. He draws from multitudinous sources and yet somehow makes everything his own. He has achieved exactly what is necessary for the education of any serious artist. He immerses himself in history and many art forms and filters everything he learns through his own self-knowledge and interests and he has also developed that quiet place in himself where everything can converge and be allowed to emerge in its own form. He has developed his own aesthetic from a sound and solid base in culture. In this regard, he is an example for any serious artist of our times. Galliano also shows a love for popular culture in his work, but there is nothing wrong with being influenced by even the trendiest or most childish elements of pop culture as long as this influence is not dominant and is not the only note in your songbook.

Year after year and collection after collection, Galliano wades back into the world of dreams and history and trends and everyday emotions and the happenings of daily life  and extracts vivid images that give meaning to the word beauty.

For me, the 2006 Dior Spring Couture collection is Galliano at his best. It begins with strange lights, the recorded sound of hoof-beats and whinnying and a woman reading verses from Revelations in the Bible. The dresses are combinations of red, white and black that often look like they’ve been splashed with blood and the makeup gives a haunted look. That’s the sort of strange, dramatic dream-world I love most from Galliano. Very few of his contemporaries have shown the same kind of power (Alexander McQueen at his best – but he is inconsistent and lately not so inspired).

In this photo, you can see the eroticism and the beauty and the luscious sense of colors and textures that are so characteristic of Galliano’s designs. The artistic detail and the powerful imagination of this show are usually only found in a great painter or film-maker. They are not the usual province of the fashion designer, who for commercial reasons and from a dearth of imagination or boldness hardly ever ventures into this territory.

So, instead of simply a review of his current collection, this is an appreciation for the years of excellent collections produced by John Galliano. No matter how you regard his work, he exhibits discipline and freedom and passion and a deeply subtle appreciation for beauty that should serve as a model for anyone who still loves culture and beauty and believes in civilization.