Gallery
John Galliano, Spring Summer '08
John Galliano
Take search lights, camouflage cover, sandbags, barbed wire, a parachute and a multitude of giant steel fans, put them in a church and you have a venue for a Galliano show. A show it was and no better way to remind you that you are now in Paris rather than Milan.
Gallianos models were a band of United Nations of combat, a cast of urban warriors, generals, dictators, liberators, insurgents and freedom fighters. Dressed for battle in the worlds trouble spots, they were fitted out for combat in cargo pants, gas masks, helmets, backpacks, camouflage prints and sported headscarves.
Sometimes it was Dictator Chic with gold jewellery, gold teeth and a Cuban cigar between the lips, others were more run of the mill mercenaries chewing tooth picks with body paint, tattoos and plenty of piercings. Others were more urban gangs, like British punks and extras from a Mad Max type film, all with protective elements, a kind of armour, some borrowed from the battle field and others taken from American football.
It was a celebration of masculinity and the way men dress for battle. Galliano himself when he came out for his customary bow, came suitably protected: a large bodyguard followed him down the length of the catwalk.