John Galliano makes a come back

JOHN GALLIANO was at the nucleus of a controversy that divided opinion; seen him face charges of public insult in Paris and subsequently found guilty; and resulted in his dismissal as the creative director of  +Christian Dior and of his own, eponymous label.

Scandal aside, he is worthy of the title of genius that has been awarded him over his decades in fashion and his flamboyant personal style has received almost as much attention as the looks he sends down his catwalks.

Galliano, who was born in Gibraltar, came to the UK at the age of six and was a awarded a place at Central Saint Martins in 1981 to study fashion illustration. "John's fashion illustration was hotly pursued,"Vogue's outgoing creative director Robin Derrick tells Charlotte Sinclair in this month's Vogue. "People would nick his drawings."
His 1984 graduate collection, called Les Incroyables, captured the attention of London's fashion elite. "There was this incredible attention to detail," fashion commentator Caryn Franklin tellsVogue. "Painstaking storytelling and unashamed enjoyment of the past. And all against an environment of anarchic Eighties pop fashion."

The vibrant Eighties club scene was a big influence on Galliano, who worked as a dresser at the National Theatre during his studies. "The club scene was a huge influence on my designs then: Blitz, St Moritz, Gossip, Taboo," he told Vogue in 2009. "London felt like the centre of the style universe. Soho was throbbing with ideas and energy." While at the clubs, Galliano, like his contemporaries, would dress up to make a statement and this exhibitionist streak remained a typical characteristic of the designer - especially at the end of his catwalk shows, when he would appear dressed as a boxer, a matador or a pirate to take his bow - always, apparently, his own muse.

His celebrity fans include Kate Moss, who wore a Galliano-designed dress for her wedding last month, Naomi Campbell,Charlize Theronand Kylie Minogue.The first dress that he created at Dior was for Diana, Princess of Wales to wear to the Met Ball in 1996.

Sources:www.vogue.uk