John Galliano just digitally conveyed an expansive Maison Margiela collection. Before saying anything else, let’s wade right in and say: Look at his coats! To start clicking through the 61 images here is to come up for air overwhelmed by the sheer variety and desirability of the outwear Galliano is putting forth. Formal and country, rainwear and utility, soft and structured, tactile, slouchy, and coolly, swaggeringly chic—this collection has all of it.
In the middle of a show season that’s often felt like an international coat-event, Galliano’s entries put him well up there as a winner across all categories and genders. Or perhaps he should be counted as first over the line, since this collection is dropping into stores and online now, March 2022. These are spring clothes, or, as the coded language of the house has it, the ‘AVP’ line (short for ‘Avant-Premiere’).
Whatever it comes before, it’s where it comes from that matters. Conceptually, it covers the waterfront of Galliano’s last ‘Artisanal’ collection—a fantasy excursion into Dutch history and post-apocalyptic survivalism—and how it’s landed up channeled into tangibly desirable, characterful clothes. Far from ‘trickling down’ in the typical fashion industry sense of being diluted into commercial
dishwater, the uniqueness of Galliano’s inventions saturates the whole thing.
One is his ‘reverse dressing’ idea, which essentially puts a notional petticoat, actually a layer of tulle or lace-like fabric, on the outside of clothes. Another: “the anonymity of the lining” technique which turns traditional garments inside-out. In the case of one of his trench coats, that idea transformed into making the checked lining into what looks like a smock dress; in fact the model’s inside the lining. It’s a single, over-the-head pullover. Elevating the ordinary is another transformational trick, like turning red-and-white checked tea towels into shirts.
Galliano said he wanted to convey the emotion of “handed-downness” in this collection. There are oversize ‘grandad’ cardigans, rolled-up ‘school-uniform’ shorts, reversible outdoor jackets that look like inside-out Barbours, and trenches apparently softened with a patina of age. Those, alongside substantial traditional British Savile Row military-derived coats and gentleman’s suits.
As much as he delves into the realms of novel techniques, Galliano’s always messing romantically with our sentimentality for classics. “Playing with bourgeois tropes,” is how he puts it. “Making the informal formal, or vice-versa.” Right down to the latest Maison Margiela tabi-brogues, it’s a brilliant catalogue of Galliano’s ability to turn a story into reality.
