Christian Dior

John Galliano originally studied to be a fashion illustrator at Central Saint Martins. He’d even signed a contract for a job in Manhattan. Then the hand of fate turned his head to design. Oh, how different things might have been. For one thing, we’d never have gotten the Dior couture show we saw today.

Galliano’s salute to René Gruau,…

Christian Dior

The umbilical connection between John Galliano’s couture collections and his ready-to-wear shows for Christian Dior  couldn’t help but generate anticipation for today’s presentation. How would he transmute that gorgeous floral extravaganza he delivered in July? In a typically cunning lateral move, the designer drew a bead on the tropics, which his congenital showmanship turned into a riff on…

Christian Dior

With a clap of thunder, the neigh of a horse, and the clippety-clop of coconut shells on the opening soundtrack, it wasn’t hard to see where John Galliano was going with Fall. Dior’s ready-to-wear was equestrian-themed, a follow-on from the daywear strand of the acclaimed Couture show in January. After Karlie Kloss had swept on, swirling a brown…

Christian Dior Couture Spring 2010

Haughty, crop-switching equestriennes in top hats, veils, and impeccable riding habits; incredible ball gowns swathed and swagged in dozens of yards of duchesse satin: This was one of those occasions when John Galliano pushed a Dior couture show into the realms of sensory overload. He’d been galvanized by a research trip to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum,…