After months of speculation, John Galliano announced he is exiting Maison Margiela, where he has served as the top designer since 2014. A decade ago, Margiela’s owner, Renzo Rosso, gave Galliano a second chance in fashion when he hired him to lead the label’s couturelike Artisanal line. It was three years since the designer was fired from Dior after he was filmed making antisemitic remarks at a café in Paris. Since then, Galliano has pulled off an impressive career comeback that culminated in his theatrical spring 2024 show, which Cathy Horyn said “belongs with the greatest Galliano collections” in the designer’s influential career. The runway show coincided with the release of an intimate documentary, High & Low, about Galliano’s rare talent, signature showmanship, and dramatic coup de grâce as well as his efforts to make amends since. At the 2024 Met Gala, several of the most famous guests on the red carpet, including Zendaya and Kim Kardashian, all wore custom Margiela looks designed by him. Overall, it’s been a great year for Galliano, who counts Anna Wintour as a powerful ally in his comeback story.
Over the summer, speculation first emerged that the designer was planning to leave Margiela and potentially return to LVMH, Dior’s parent company, to either rejoin Dior or return to his namesake label, which he sold to LVMH when he joined Dior in 1996. (It’s worth noting that there are no public job openings at the moment at Dior, where Maria Grazia Chiuri leads women’s and Kim Jones leads men’s.)
“When the time is right, all will be revealed,” said Galliano in a lengthy statement published on his Instagram account on Wednesday regarding the rumors about his future plans. Instead, he thanked the people who have helped him reach 14 years of sobriety as well as his atelier team, his fashion family, his muses, and especially Rosso for taking a chance and hiring him. “The greatest, most precious gift he gave me was the opportunity to once again find my creative voice when I had become voiceless,” Galliano wrote. “Forgiving myself was, for a while, the hardest act. I felt guilty that my behavior perpetuated the stereotype that creativity had to be fueled by drink and drugs. That old rock-and-roll attitude. SO WRONG.” He spoke about the importance of forgiveness and compassion. “With childlike eyes and forgotten innocence, we make amends, believe in ourselves — for God is in all of us. NOT when we cancel each other out.”
