He will be the third living designer to have their own Costume Institute exhibition after Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017.

John Galliano is the dandied pirate whose talent and theatrics made the house of Christian Dior one of the most sought after and celebrated fashion houses in the late 90s to late 2010s. Galliano’s own label housed some of the most campy and gorgeous looks to date. The runway shows, makeup looks by Pat McGrath, styling were incomparable, whimsical, and defied logic as it should because it was all about the feels, texture, story and world building. You always hear world building in the sense of film, video games, tech but Galliano brought it to fashion in an extraordinary way.

Fast forward to today, the Costume Institute exhibition is a major milestone considering the last 15 years. An anti-semetic outburst in 2011 set Galliano back to square -1, the push from Dior,  a documentary High & Low - John Galliano in 2023, going to Margiela until 2024 and an upcoming Zara collab in September. There have been means to help revive the fall from grace by way of Anna Wintour, fashion's favourite fairy godmother.

Controversy has always been a draw for fashion and The Met, from Hosts, Chairs, Sponsors, Celebrities, to now the subjects of the exhibition.

I don’t know how I feel about this one as I don’t separate the art from the artists when it comes to my personal tastes and preferences and this one is tough. Thoughts?

With that said, from my archive I have a Style.com video from Galliano’s 2008 Spring “Campy/ Melange” Ready to Wear runway show that I’ve saved to my iPod Nano to watch on the go. Its a delight with cameos from Robin Givhan, Tim Blanks. 

More Dior or whatever the t-shirt said

It’s August already and I have yet to get to the beach. I’m prepping and have been listening to this Sea Soul compilation, 8 hours worth of yacht tunes by Dee Phunk.

It took me until a few weeks ago to realize that Aretha Franklin did a cover of What a Fool Believes and it absolutely snaps. What I enjoy is the clear distinction between the two eras of the song. The Doobie Brothers being in the late 70’s and Franklin’s being in the 80’s. It has 80’s sitcom intro music written all over it. The synths, horns, and harmonies are stacked and ready to be on an intro to a show that goes on before the Golden Girls and after your local news.