John Galliano: The End

Fashion designer John Galliano As Dior sacks provocateur John Galliano after 15 years, the future looks uncertain for both the designer and the fashion house John Galliano, long a top fashion-world provocateur on and off the runway, went too far this time. The storied French label Christian Dior said on Tuesday it was firing the zany British bad boy after video showing him spouting "I love Hitler" in a drunken rant went viral online — sending shock waves through the start of Paris Fashion Week. The ouster followed a barrage of accusations and revelations about Galliano's outbursts that spelled major career trouble for the talented and moneymaking couturier.
The allegations of bigotry had put Dior, which battles crosstown rival Chanel for the title of world's top fashion house, in the hot seat: Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, the new advertising face of the Miss Dior Cherie perfume line, who is Jewish, expressed fury over the remarks. "Knowing John's proclivity for provocation on the runway and in life, to hear such accusations wasn't surprising," said Dana Thomas, a fashion guru and author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster, an expose of the luxury industry. "But the videos that went viral yesterday were too damning to deny," she said. "I'm sure [Dior CEO Sidney] Toledano was deeply hurt because he's Jewish."
Fashionistas almost uniformly said Dior would pull through the controversy, and some even suggested the episode gave it a chance to clean its slate after Galliano's 15-year rein as its mastermind of creation. The 50-year-old designer's tailspin began after a couple accused him of hurling anti-Semitic insults at them on Thursday. As word got out that police were investigating, another woman came forward accusing Galliano of similar insults in October. An apparent smoking gun emerged on Monday when the British daily The Sun posted a video on its website showing Galliano appearing to taunt two women diners. At one point, a woman's voice asks Galliano, "Are you blond, with blue eyes?"
Galliano replied: "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be ... gassed and ... dead." In what some hailed as an appropriate and quick response, Christian Dior SA said on Tuesday it had launched termination proceedings for Galliano and decried "the particularly odious nature of the behaviour and words" in the video.
Some murmured that Dior had long been looking to part with Galliano, and this was a way out. Others feared that it might bring his brilliant career to a tragic finish — and possibly overshadow his legacy. Dior said it still planned to go ahead with its Galliano-designed autumn-winter 2011-12 collection tomorrow. Trying to limit the fallout, press officers at the designer's signature label, John Galliano, spent much of the day checking with journalists, critics, stylists and editors to make sure they would be attending its women's wear show, scheduled for Sunday. "The situation is extremely sad. Creative people like John — great artists, great writers — often wrestle with the devil in the form of the bottle or drugs," Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of American Marie Claire, said. After seeing the video, she said, "You were left thinking, ‘What on earth was he thinking?' "The pressure is probably less when you start somewhere than when you've been there for some time and have to continue to produce at such a high level," she said. "We're very curious to see who replaces John."
The guessing-game got going in earnest from the moment it became clear Galliano was out. While some fashion insiders put their money on Alber Elbaz, who has transformed Lanvin from a musty old label into one of Paris' hottest, others said Givenchy's Riccardo Tischi was their man.
Outrageous, theatrical
Since his appointment in 1996, Galliano, who was born in Gibraltar and grew up in London, made an indelible mark on the House of Dior. Season after season, he reinterpreted the iconic New Look pieces pioneered by founder Christian Dior, managing to make the designs first fielded after the Second World War fresh and youthful.
Always theatrical and sometimes outrageous, Galliano's star-studded runway shows are big-budget blockbusters and among the most-anticipated displays on the Paris calendar. For years, Galliano has made a spectacle of himself at the end of his shows, prancing out in a rooster-style strut, arms akimbo, his chin up and head cocked back. Backstage he holds court for reporters' questions and fan emulation while seated on a high-backed chair resembling a throne. Galliano's days holding court at Dior are over. The last straw appeared to be a statement by Portman, who won an Oscar on Sunday for Black Swan, expressing shock and disgust at the video.
Marcellous Jones, editor-in-chief of thefashioninsider.com magazine, said he was "really surprised that Dior actually had the conviction to fire John Galliano because he makes them a lot of money". "I think we were all expecting them to send him to rehab and so they are actually firing him. It's a bold move," he said. "It marks a dramatic end to one of the greatest eras in the history of the house of Dior in terms of its international reputation." Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, praised Dior's move in a statement saying Galliano's words had caused pain around the world — notably among Holocaust survivors and their relatives.
Patricia Fields John
Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field yesterday jumped to the defence of ousted fashion czar John Galliano after his alleged drunken anti-Semitic rant at a Paris cafe near his home. Using her Facebook account, Field posted a page titled "In Praise Of John Galliano" and released a statement that read: "Beauty, intelligence and energy would describe John as I know him. Where in this trilogy could one find hate? I ask you! My second question is … What exactly did he say? And the third is … What is really going on here??" She didn't stop with the statement. She topped it up with an interview defending the British designer with a leading fashion daily. "People in fashion all they do is go and see John Galliano theatre every season, she said. That's what he gives them. To me, this was the same except it wasn't in a theatre or in a movie. John lives in theatre. It's theatre. It's farce. But people in fashion don't recognise the farce in it. All of a sudden they don't know him. But it's okay when it's Mel Brooks' The Producers singing Springtime for Hitler."