When it was announced that John Galliano had been appointed artistic director of Maison Martin Margiela, two of fashion’s most respected, influential and inspirational names were joined. Superficially, the two designers couldn’t have been more different – Martin Margiela, who retired in 2009, was famously elusive; Galliano, notorious – but, on a more profound level, they shared a passionate belief in the need for fashion to innovate, and a joy in the freedom to create beautiful things.
Galliano’s debut ready-to-wear collection for the newly renamed Maison Margiela was a brilliant, bold and marginally unsettling study of character; a spectacular unison of his renowned theatrical flair tailored to the masterful modernism and understatement of the house. “I wanted it to look as if those girls had walked out onto the wrong runway,” he explained. In this brilliantly dynamic film by Craig McDean and Masha Vasyukova, exclusive to AnOther, Galliano's girls come to life... in a fashion as bizarre as anyone could imagine.
Read the full Maison Margiela, John Galliano story in AnOther Magazine A/W15
“When I walked in, felt the heart and soul, saw the peeling paint, I said: ‘I feel really good here.’” - John Galliano
“We’d put a wig on and let them look at themselves, and if they were still interested we’d add a hat. Then we’d put the outfit on and ask them to walk. ‘Try it faster, try it faster.’” - John Galliano
“Everything was considered. What did she have in her bag? Empty tea cartons, probably” - John Galliano
“Today I think if I can design with integrity and women wear my clothes, then I’m succeeding. And to have been given a second chance – that’s just something that I’m so grateful for. To create and make things is all I’ve ever wanted to do" - John Galliano
Hair Eugene Souleiman at Streeters for Wella Professionals; Make-up Pat McGrath at Streeters; Models Grace Simmons, Maja Salamon at Next, Greta Varlese, Harleth Kuusik at The Society, Issa Lish at Muse, Tami Williams at Elite, Vanessa Moody at Woman Management; Casting Shaun Beyen at KCD Worldwide; Manicure Megumi Yamamoto at Susan Price NYC using CHANEL Le Vernis Holiday and ESSIE Bouncer, It’s Me!; Photographic assistants Huan Nguyen, Maru Teppei, Nick Brinley, Simon Roberts, William Laird; Digital Tech Nicholas Ong; Styling assistants Isabelle Sayer, Jayme Miller, Anita Lau, Victor Cordero; Hair assistants Neil Grupp, Ryan Mitchell, Yohey Nakatsuka; Make-up assistants Mimi Imanishi, Erin Parsons; Post production Gloss Studio New York; Production Sara Zion for PRODn at Art + Commerce; Production assistants Kaia Balcos, Wesley Torrance; Special thanks to Alfie Sackett
