Prince John, Your Reign is Over

John Galliano

John Galliano has been the head designer for Christian Dior since 1997.  That is, until his racist rant the other week cost him his job.  Galliano is half-Gilbraltarian, half-Spanish and a British citizen since boyhood.  He graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1984 with honors.  His first collection was inspired by the French Revolution which he called “Les Incroyables,” which received rave reviews and kicked off his career in fashion.  In 1995, he was hired by Givenchy’s Bernard Arnault, making him the first British head designer of a French haute couture house.  On February 25th, the week before French Fashion Week, Galliano was arrested in a Parisian bar after yelling anti-Semitic words at a woman, telling her she had “a dirty Jew face.”  That day French site Citizenside published a video from last December of Galliano yelling other racist sentiments to some Italian women in the same bar, saying, “I love Hitler… People like you would be dead.  Your mothers, your forefathers would all be f***ing gassed!”

Natalie Portman as Miss Dior

Natalie Portman, the new face of Miss Dior Cherie – and a proud Jewish-American whose great-grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz – was not happy about the news.  The recent Oscar-winner and mother-to-be stated, “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today… I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.”  Miss Portman is rightfully angry, but not all share her sentiments… Designer Patricia Field, famous for dressing the singletons of Sex and the City, claims Galliano was putting on theater, just making jokes.  Well, Dior wasn’t laughing when they decided to fire him on March 1st.  The following day, French prosecutors announced Galliano will be facing trial for the comments he made in the cafe.  If found guilty, he could face up to six months in prison and a $30,000 fine.  He has reportedly checked into the Meadows Rehab facility in Arizona due to the suggestion from the infamously bad-behaved models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.  Galliano’s catwalk for Paris Fashion Week was also canceled, as a result.  Prince John, it looks like your British rule is over.

Look-of-the-Day

In honor of Colleen Atwood’s third Oscar win last Sunday, we chose our favorite costume of hers for this “Fancy Friday” pick.  Christina Ricci wears this vertical black and white striped, turn of the 19th Century gown in the final scene of Sleepy Hollow as Katrina Van Tassel in Tim Burton’s 1999 version.  Burton and Atwood designed this dress as an homage to Burton’s wacky lead character from Beetle Juice.  The dress is both sophisticated and gothic, like many of Atwood’s beautiful creations.  But this look is absolutely timeless…  One of our editors has a similarly-patterned Ralph Lauren button-down shirt, and recently purchased Victoria’s Secret silk pants with the same stripes (pictured right)!  Ichabod Crane and Katrina may have been scared of losing their heads, but we’d be more petrified of losing this fantastic frock!