Intelligence

Here Is John Galliano's Wild Margiela Debut

By Erika Adams Jan 12, 2015, 12:34pm EST

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Today is the day that John Galliano returns to the runway. This comes four years after the designer's fall from grace and very public ousting at Dior. After two years spent completely out of the public eye, he found hope in the form of Oscar de la Renta, who granted him a three-week stay in his New York studio to "re-immerse himself in the world of fashion."

Critics parsed every angle of ODLR's Fall 2013 line to find Galliano's influences but his involvement with the collection was kept under wraps and the collaboration (if you can call it that) never continued. Next, Parsons hired Galliano for a teaching gig, but that was shut down before Galliano had the chance to speak in front of students.

In June 2013, Vanity Fair published Galliano's first public interview since leaving Dior. The first televised interview came soon after on Charlie Rose. Both times, Galliano came across as profusely apologetic. In May 2014, he got his first real job at a Russian perfumery chain and not long after, Margiela rumors began circulating.

Last October, WWD reported that Galliano was officially in as creative director at Maison Martin Margiela. Originally, the first collection was slated to debut at Paris Couture Week but was since moved up to show in London during the men's collections. The Guardian speculates that the move was made to ensure Galliano a more comfortable reception—London has long supported the designer ever since his days in training at Central Saint Martins.

Galliano presented his first Margiela couture collection to a tiny group of 100 supporters including Anna Wintour (who wore a Galliano-designed Margiela dress at the British Fashion Awards), Alber Elbaz, Nicola Formichetti, Christopher Bailey, and Manolo Blahnik. Every look is posted on Style.com and Business of Fashion captured the whole show moment by moment on Instagram.