John Galliano is back in the atelier: The Spanish retailer Zara has signed the design legend to a two-year creative partnership which will see him “re-author” the brand’s archives, returning Galliano to fashion after an absence of two years following the feat of bravura and viral sensation that was his final Artisanal show for Maison Margiela in 2024.
“I’ve been curating some of Zara’s recent archives,” Galliano told Vogue during Paris Fashion Week. “The idea is that I will re-author them.” The project came about via Galliano’s conversations with Marta Ortega Perez—the chair of Inditex, Zara’s parent company, and the daughter of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega. “I met Marta through MOP [the Marta Ortega Perez Foundation] and the wonderful exhibitions that she does—Steven Meisel, Irving Penn,” Galliano explained. (The MOP, established in 2022, presents photography and fashion exhibitions in A Coruña, Spain.) “Through those exhibitions, we started to strike up a friendship. I just like how open she is.”
Since Ortega Perez was named chair in 2022, Zara has collaborated with other high fashion designers, among them Narciso Rodriguez and Stefano Pilati. It’s also released capsule collections by fashion notables like Kate Moss and Meisel, but the partnership with Galliano is unique in that it will extend over two years.
Photographed by Szilveszter Makó
“I’m super excited, because it’s not something I’ve done before, so that kind of tickles me—the newness, the excitement, the actual process,” Galliano noted. “Even with my team, I have to keep reminding them daily: No, it’s not this, and it’s not that. We are re-authoring. It’s been quite fun, and I just think it’s a very positive thing to be doing at this time, and really sustainable from a creative point of view, which is super interesting to me.”
In January, Galliano was seen front row at Jonathan Anderson’s haute couture debut for Dior. Before his ten years at Maison Margiela, he was creative director of Christian Dior from 1997 to 2011. “When I was at school—even before I went to school—John was a hero of mine,” Anderson said at the time, noting that Galliano designed Dior for a longer period than the founder himself. “For me in the modern-day world, he is Dior.” Anderson’s collection was indebted to Galliano, with references to his past designs and the incorporation of cyclamen—of the kind Galliano presented to the younger couturier at their first meeting—across many pieces, as well as the impressive Musée Rodin set.
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