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The living being, as a rule, is born, grows, reproduces and dies.

Genius, in general, is born, grows, triumphs precociously, collapses in a calamitous, humiliating and total way and, after a prudent period of time, re-emerges.

Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano-Guillén,

that is,

John Galliano,

barely needed a couple of years to begin his

social rebirth.

The Gibraltarian designer entered a

detoxification center

in Arizona, United States, during the spring of 2011 after having directed

anti-Semitic insults

at a group of women who were dining at a restaurant in Paris.

Among the outbursts of the night, a "I love Hitler!"

In June of the same year, 'The New York Times' reported, Galliano would repeat at the trial that he felt

unable to remember

the insults that were attributed to him.

The incident, however, had been immortalized.

Someone had taken care of

videotaping

the scene.

At 50 years old, the designer assured in front of three judges that the causes of the hate crime of which he was accused had been stress

and

his

addiction to alcohol,

insomnia pills and

diazepam.

Two years later, in his first interview since then, he acknowledged that it was "the worst thing I've ever said in my life, but I didn't mean to do it. I realize now that I was angry with myself and said the meanest thing I could." say. [...] When my assistant showed me the images, I vomited. I was paralyzed with fear.

That talk with the American edition of 'Vanity Fair', he admitted, was the first conversation with a media outlet that he had sober.

Galliano after a fashion show in 2007 with Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bündchen.GETTY IMAGES

A different rehabilitation

The episode earned him a fine of around 6,000 euros and his position as creative director at Dior and at John Galliano, the eponymous brand that he had founded.

At the detoxification center where he took refuge, Linda Evangelista

visited and

Kate Moss

telephoned .

The British woman had a pending task.

The design of the wedding dress that she had agreed on with the Gibraltarian had not been completed.

In July 2011, at her wedding to

Jamie Hince,

the supermodel wore a 1920s-inspired number made of silk and chiffon.

On the skirt, embroidered with golden sequins, the wings of a phoenix.

That dress was, in Galliano's words, a "creative rehabilitation."

For

Ana Velasco Molpeceres,

historian and author of 'Old Clothes: History of the Garments We Wear', that is now behind us.

With the support of Anna Wintour,

of whom 'The Guardian' reports that she facilitated a collaboration with

Oscar de la Renta in 2013,

and the Condé Nast publishing group, the Gibraltarian's career was on the rise again.

Months later,

Maison Margiela

announced his incorporation as

creative director of the brand.

John Galliano waves from the catwalk for the last time as creative director of Dior.LAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT

Hysteria returns to the front row

In January 2024, his

Haute Couture collection

for the French house caused sartorial hysteria.

In the front row, Wintour laughed and film director

Baz Luhrmann

applauded.

In front of them, Galliano had resurrected the

Belle Époque

.

As in the portrait of

Madame Bijou,

by

Brassaï

, the volumes had swollen.

As in a

Toulouse-Lautrec poster,

chiffon and lace spilled over crinolines, corsets and bustles, the ruffles of the dresses held back on tabi-style heels and the suits clung, on the verge of hyperbole, over the waist.

Look from the Maison Margiela Haute Couture spring-summer 2024 show (pubic hair is fake).LAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT

A couple of weeks later,

Miley Cyrus

walked the red carpet at the

Grammy Awards

in a gold mesh dress designed by the Gibraltarian.

The image spread through newspapers, magazines and social networks.

"The figure of Galliano," reflects Velasco, "draws from the pre-internet moment as we know it today. His shows for

Givenchy, Dior

and his own brand were very recognizable on television and magazines, where he was labeled 'enfant terrible,' which is a marketing strategy in which surprise is not surprising.

Miley Cyrus at the Grammys.GTRES

Obsessions that bear good fruit

For fashion journalist

Lola Gavarrón,

furthermore, "any woman with class feels comfortable in her tailoring shop, whose pattern design is worthy of a great master. Like

Jean-Paul Gaultier,

she approaches Haute Couture without reverence for it. They have humor fashionable in harmony with the spirit of the time, which is anything but sacrosanct.

"In his case," Velasco continues, "there is also genius and an interest in the history of fashion, which he activates and makes interesting. The result is a very refined

totum revolutum

, because he has very marked

aesthetic obsessions

that he manages to advance. To me, his care for the craftsmanship, his mastery of history, and how he makes his interests time and time again relevant, if not necessarily pretty, explain his genius."

Next March, the

documentary 'High & Low: John Galliano'

will also try to do so.

Spring is always a time of resurrection.

Look from the Maison Margiela Haute Couture spring-summer 2024 show, a show where even the makeup had something to talk about.LAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT

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