John Galliano Take 2

Scandal and gossip are the best kindling for a good story and nothing really gets more scandalous than fashions's premier creative genius having a drunken anti-semitic rant, having it caught on camera and being completely disgraced and fired from his enviable position as creative director at Dior. And so I introduce Mr John Galliano.

John Galliano

A quick summary of Galliano's career up until his downfall can be found here: www.biography.com/johngalliano

Yet more intriguing than witnessing an individual's fall from grace, is seeing them return to prominence. A pleasure that is just a sick facet of human nature I suppose. So cue salacious excitement from fashionista/o's when it was announced that Galliano will be returning to fashion with a 3 week stint at Oscar de la Renta in preparation for New York Fashion Week (beginning 6th February).

Óscar Aristides de la Renta Fiallo

de la Renta, who has dressed every single first lady since Jackie Kennedy, was trained under Cristobal Balenciaga himself and has nurtured a career as elegantly spectacular as his creations, without publicised drama or misconduct. The partnership with Galliano seems well matched with both designers favouring to create spectacularly intricate gowns that use the most complex of construction techniques.  

Oscar de la Renta SS11                                                                                                                     Christian Dior AW09

So what of Galliano's return? Is it too soon? Should he be forgiven? Naturally these are the questions that have flared up from the press and two obvious camps of "for" and "against" Galliano's come back have formed. 

Rather than rolling through the argument and counter-argument and arriving at a neutral/pointless conclusion, I am going to plainly present my opinion so that we all no where we stand. I have always felt "playing devil's advocate" is a game for pricks quite frankly, a way of hiding what YOU actually think so to speak.

Hence, I do declare:

"I am happy to see the return of John Galliano to the fashion world" - Cristo 2013

Galliano's "I Love Hitler" rant is horrendous, a man in his position of power should know better and alcohol is no excuse however I feel in this case talent must prove superior to regrettable drunken wrongdoing. 

This is not a Paris Hilton-Lindsey Lohan type case where fame has been used to take shortcuts, reduce punishment and speed the process back to power. Fame comes with great benefits as well as considerable negatives. Were Galliano not famous his anti-semitic slander would never have been so widely publicised. It is unfortunate but true that far worse is spoken by many everyday yet goes unacknowledged. I stress that I am not for a moment condoning his behaviour what so ever but merely expressing that I feel his behaviour on that evening is not connected to his abilities as a designer, which are unmatched in terms of creativity, theatrics and vision. It would be a shame to lose these forever more.  

Lastly, Galliano has spent the last two years in rehabilitation for alcoholism and has publicly expressed repentance for his actions. My mother's favourite phrase is "credit where credit is due" and I feel this is a time to live by this expression. Apology accepted John (from me anyway, do you agree?), now show us why you are known as a rare gem of creative talent.

Is that CRISTO CLEAR? 

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