Inside Paris Fashion—John Galliano - Brief Article - Interview

JOHN GALLIANO: Ingrid!

INGRID SISCHY: Hi, John. How are you?

JG: I'm good, and you?

IS: Fine. We are doing this special issue about the fact that Paris seems to have come back from the dead. Tell us about your decision to leave London and go to Paris in the '90s.

JG: I went to a traditional art school--Saint Martins [College of Art & Design] in London. A hunger for Paris was instilled in me early on; Paris was definitely the place to go. Even when I was based in London, I made my pilgrimage with my sales team to Paris, because this is where most of the Italian, French, Japanese and American buyers were. And when I was based in London, as with many young, struggling designers, production was a great problem. Of course, commercially speaking, if I'd had some kind of link-up with Milan and a production backup, I would have gone there rather than to Paris. But I was still trying to set up my own business, so it made sense to come to Paris, where the big guys were. It was difficult. When I say we had no money I mean when we had the flu we'd have to rustle up enough money to buy a pepper and some bread so we'd sweat. But our belief in fashion made us go through with it.

IS: Tell us how you went from starving young designer to where you are now. Start with having left London after that groundbreaking show you did in Paris, updating the obi theme for your own line. After a lot of struggle and help, your business was set up in the Bastille in the early '90s and--

JG: Well, the most amazing thing happened! These fantastic society ladies came traipsing down to the Bastille and ordering these bias-cut dresses and things, so I think it got to be known in Paris that John was not only dressing young, funky people, but haute couture ladies were also coming to see him. I think that rang a few bells.

IS: And then?

JG: I was offered to be the designer of the haute couture and the pret-a-porter at Givenchy.

IS: Just like in a fairy tale. And now one of your responsibilities is that you're in charge of women's fashion at Dior ready-to-wear and couture. What did you think when all this started happening, John?

JG: [laughs] Even today, Ingrid, I have to pinch myself before I go into Dior. [laughs] In retrospect, I realize my tenure at Givenchy was maybe a trial thing to see how I performed--if the clothes came up to scratch, if they were delivered on time, if they were beautifully made and everything. And then the big call came, when I was summoned to see Mr. Arnault. I thought I'd done something horribly wrong, or said something terrible. I mean, it was Friday, 5:00 P.M. No one gets called to a meeting on a Friday at 5:00 P.M. in Paris, because they're all pissing off to the country! So I thought, "Shit, what have I done? This must be serious!" And then this car was sent for me, which was a little spooky, because it had dark windows.

IS: How did you know they didn't want to kill you? [both laugh]

JG: I just kept praying. And then I was taken to this building and taken up this back lift with all these security men and mirrors. It was very James Bond, right? Then these mirrored doors slid open and there was this amazingly elegant gray vision--Mr. Arnault. We sat down, and he talked about Dior, and would I like to be the designer of Dior. . . and, of course, I nearly fell off my chair! [both laugh] I tried to compose myself, and then I went, "Yes! YES! OF COURSE I would!"

IS: And now when you're working, let's say, in one of the back rooms at Dior--

JG: --Which back room, sweetie? [both laugh] Do you mean the atelier? You've got to remember that I'd never really worked for anyone before, and certainly never worked within the structures of a grand house like Givenchy or Dior. One day I was scrambling around in the Bastille, the next day I was in this building with guys in white lab coats looking like scientists.

IS: And once you started working together? JG: It just completely clicked.

IS: Does it surprise you that couture, in fact, can still be a relevant subject, when for like the last 20 or 30 years it was so often thought of as dead?

JG: No. I always say, Ingrid, that the visionary is Mr. Arnault. I mean, respect to him, OK? He took the risk. Things are working really well at Dior now, and since he did that there are many houses that have now had an influx of young, whatever-nationality designers. That influx is taking us into the 21st century. But it's really thanks to Mr. Arnault, who had the foresight, the vision, to take the risk--and, I mean, it was a scandal when it happened. [But now,] the day after the haute couture shows you see the stocks rise. So it's working. And now I'm very happy.

IS: Can you remember the first images you ever had of Paris?

JG: I think it was paintings by Ingres as well as earlier historical drawings and cartoons of les merveilleuses and incroyables, French revolutionaries charging down cobblestones and roads and smoke in the air. Those images inspired my college collection at Saint Martins in London. That was the Paris that I knew in my heart before living here. I had a very romantic vision of it. And I loved that sense of danger that you get in Paris, too--that slight avant-garde that smells of danger.