John Galliano’s collection soared this morning, hitting a wildly creative flow not seen—or felt—from him since he stepped into Maison Margiela. With Joan Baez singing “Diamonds and Rust” (1975) on the soundtrack, and references to contemporary youth consciousness filtered through social media apps, this was a collection that cut through layers of symbolism to reach toward something emotional about the current predicaments facing humanity.
On the one hand, there’s the urge to escape back to the land, and on the other, the compulsion to be constantly connected. “Some people have decided they’ve had enough,” Galliano reflected, in a preview. There were ’60s reportage photographs of American hippies and commune dwellers, and political graffiti work by Shepard Fairey on his pinboard at Margiela HQ. Overt references to the American past, to pioneers and isolated country sects, were evoked in tall hats, folksy skirts, and naive wool embroideries, but his whole creative drive was to mine the meaning of the intersections between past and present.
It literally meant looking deeply into garments, often stripping them away to their seams until they became cage-like soft sculptures, to reveal the underworkings spilling out, or as the designer put it, “to reduce it down to the memory of the emotion.” But then there would be the over-filters; the rainbow tongues that teens play with on novelty apps, crude, colorful drawings embroidered over faces, the visual communication methods of the moment, simultaneously registered.
There are many allusions, which could be pointed out, maybe politically resonant, maybe not. The one thing Galliano did want to make clear is, “I’m not talking about narratives any more.” Sobriety has taught him to appreciate being in the moment, and, by the look of what was on the runway, to rediscover the joy and hands-on discipline of focusing on pure creativity. How else to explain the madly off-hand chic of the red ostrich feather–trimmed hat with a tweed asymmetrical jacket and swagged miniskirt, the ingenious diagonal sweep of a toga dress, or an amazing navy velvet and black Lurex raincoat with its panels filled in with black chiffon? Looks like Galliano’s got his mojo back.
