John Galliano’s 2024 Margiela couture changed the essence of fashion–and I am not saying this lightly
For fashion and art lovers alike, John Galliano’s 2024 Artisanal Collection for Maison Margiela landed like a ticking bomb. Time stood still, jaws dropped on the creaky wooden floors, hearts-almost-stopped-then-came-back-on-again. The scene is set at a Parisian nightclub in the 19th century, with Galliano’s porcelain dolls draped in sheer fabrics, padded hips, and peculiar wigs zigzagging through the dimly lit street under the full moon. While the carefully curated outfits more than checked the box of haute couture, the models’ porcelain-like glossy makeup and cinematic performance in the ominous ambiance was one for the history books. In the end, the bomb did go off–except it was in the form of the audience’s relentless cheers as they finally gathered themselves to breathe.
The show started with a silhouette running from the hazy fog as a mash-up of Adele’s “Hometown Glory” and suspenseful music started playing in the background. The model’s body almost fell as he came to a halt, then slowly composed himself as his silhouette emerged from the fog and started walking the wet pavement.
Galliano’s show felt like a breath of fresh air amidst fashion shows that don’t do fashion justice, let alone couture. He showcased fashion beyond what the garments alone offered and attracted art lovers from every direction with the beautiful cinematic experience. There were many traces of the Fauvist painter Kees van Dongen in the show, as the short film in black and white by Baz Luhrmann screamed traces of the infamous 1939 Horst P. Horst’s photograph. The couture show mirrored Paris in the 1930s and infused a show lacking commercial intent with the setting of a run-down night joint, fabricating a scene of gamblers and prostitutes. Galliano’s inspiration from Brassaϊ’s voyeuristic work completed the designer’s vision of a fashion fantasy world.
The scene was further decorated with odd-like figures who broke the lifeless model trope: the models took hold of the wet pavements of Pont Alexandre III and skidded, faltered, ran, and limped. The figures, with inhumane-like torsos and hips, pulled the audience into their intense gaze, and momentarily took seats alongside the nightclub. The models’ stances varied: while some embraced themselves with two arms, some were flimsy, pulling up their trenchcoats close to their faces in a disguised attempt. Some walked with a toothpick between their teeth and did not take their eyes off the audience, and some looked scared-like as if their heels were going to break any moment (the red Tabi shoe soles shined through like always).
The unexpected, jostling movements of the models symbolized yet another way Galliano awoke the fashion world with brittle excitement. Galliano tried to envision a nightlife with the models as Parisians with unconventional lives and jobs who found a purpose together in one place. He called the carefully curated scenery “the underbelly of Paris.”
There was a reason why Galliano’s show left any other fashion show in a haze: every aspect of the show pulled the audience into the feel of the fabric and reminded every soul watching what fashion used to be. Within the 12 months Galliano worked on the collection, he came up with different couture dress-making practices like “emotional cutting”–which is cutting a garment while infusing it with unconscious gestures influencing expressions–and “retrograding,” which consists of mimicking the degeneration of detail that results when an image is re-created. For many Galliano enthusiasts, the Artisanal collection feels like a short ride in a time machine: Galliano is so back. And so is feeling jolted alive with every garment.
Galliano once again showed his commemoration by showing the transformation of what upcycled garments can take the shape of. Used materials were transformed above and beyond, and turned into delicate garments that reminisced marionette silhouettes. The runway consisted of sheer, tulle skirts and dresses; ultra-extreme corsetry; hefty-padded hips; white latex gloves; horse-like knee socks, wide colorful wings; blue and white dainty dresses; porcelain neck corsets; alien-like eye and fabric masks, and balloon-like blazer and skirt combinations. A beret, trench coat, and toothpick completed the silhouette of a Parisian who intended to escape the banality of everyday life.
The bodies were re-engineered, and the garments elicited a sensation of being outside one’s body. Many of the fabrics had the feel as though light was reflected through them and carried water and oil-like stains. Galliano wanted the experience to be a reminder of fashion as a pure art craft and nothing else–he re-imagined the body as a canvas and built on the garments as reflective as one’s emotions can be.
None of this would be possible without Pat McGrath’s porcelain skin formulation that has shaken–I mean, shaken, the makeup world. The models’ faces were lit by a shining base resembling glass and a pop of colors decorated their faces. The colors McGrath used varied, but light blue, red, yellow, and green stole the show. The ‘90s thin eyebrows drawn on each model added to the theatrical feel and evoked eerie sensations. Thousands of users online hopped on the trend trying to crack the code behind McGrath’s shiny, mannequin-like skin craft. It added to the mystery more as several models were seen “ripping off” the porcelain skin, driving users over the edge. Luckily, McGrath is no gatekeeper and the secret is out!
Let’s admit it–no amount of writing articles or rewatching performances will do justice to Galliano’s couture collection. Just when you think you might hit the perfect sweet amount, there will be an intangible need to do it all over. It’s an experience one wishes to relive for the first time while never capturing the true feel of it through the flatness of a screen. Simple enough, you just had to be there.
Meliha Ural is the Editor-in-Chief of Revolution’s blog.
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