John Galliano leaves the discreet Maison Margiela, his refuge for ten years

Star fashion designer then fallen, the British John Galliano will leave Maison Margiela, his refuge for ten years, after his dismissal from Dior for anti-Semitic remarks which had put a sudden brake on his career.

“Today is the day I say goodbye to Maison Margiela,” he wrote in an Instagram post, without saying more about his base.

“The rumors… Everyone wants to know and everyone wants to dream. When the time comes, everything will be revealed,” he added, while the fashion world has been buzzing for months about its future, in a context of a game of musical chairs at the head of the big houses. Firstly, Chanel, without an artistic director since the announced departure of Virginie Viard in June.

In a message mixing the intimate with the professional, evoking his “14 years of sobriety”, John Galliano says “his gratitude to his fashion family for this creative moment” which “saved his life”, a “cocoon that we created together.”

The designer, considered one of the most brilliant of his generation, was able to rewrite the legend of the Dior house for 15 years with extraordinary creative energy, orchestrating sumptuous and extravagant fashion shows, and reigning supreme over the image. of the brand.

But everything changed in 2011, when an altercation pitted the drunken designer against customers of a Parisian bar, at whom he hurled anti-Semitic insults. Dior announces the dismissal of its star creator, sentenced in court six months later to a suspended fine of 6,000 euros.

Crossing the desert

What followed was a journey through the desert of three and a half years during which he still created the wedding dress for his friend Kate Moss in the summer of 2011 and brought a very noticeable touch to an Oscar de la Renta fashion show in February 2013 .

After detoxification, insisting that he was neither racist nor anti-semitic, he found refuge in the discreet but influential Maison Margiela, which appointed him artistic director.

The label, whose models often have their faces masked to highlight the clothes, seemed to correspond perfectly to the designer’s desire to break with his old passions.

In his post on Instagram, he pays tribute to Renzo Rosso, owner of the OTB group which owns Maison Margiela: “the most precious gift he gave me was to give me the opportunity to find, once again, my creative voice when I had lost it.”

He also relates that Martin Margiela himself said to him upon his arrival: “Take what you want from the DNA of the house, protect yourself and make your way… you know how to do it”.

Including: its January 2024 fashion show moved the 250 spectators to tears with its exuberant “Artisanal” collection, inspired by “fin de siècle” Paris.

“Avant-garde”

“Martin made this house a reference and an icon, John made it the most avant-garde fashion house in the world,” praised Renzo Rosso, in a press release from the OTB group on Wednesday, slipping “I know that we will be able to collaborate on other projects in the future.”

Galliano, whose real name is Juan Carlos Galliano, was born in 1960 in Gibraltar into a modest family: his father Juan, Anglo-Italian, is a plumber, his mother Anita, Spanish, is a flamenco lover.

Arriving in working-class south-west London at the age of six, the boy quickly found success. After the prestigious Saint Martins School in London, where his graduation collection “Les Incroyables” inspired by the French Revolution caused a sensation, he launched his ready-to-wear brand in 1984. In 1987, the British Fashion Council named creator of the year.

In 1990, he moved to Paris and was appointed to Givenchy in 1995. The following year was his breakthrough: he took the reins of creation at Dior. The first outfit he created was a dress worn by Lady Di for the label’s 50th anniversary.

Throughout the collections, John Galliano stands out for his art of cutting, his mastery of draping, his clever mixes of noble materials, the brilliance of his colors.

His fashion shows are real spectacles, which also shock, like the “Tramps” collection (2000) inspired by the rags of the homeless.