Galliano – Colin McDowell

Galliano – Colin McDowell (1998).

Cover: Peter Lindbergh.

This book is not a biography. It barely touches the facts of John Galliano’s private life. Nor is it a full critical assessment of his work. It is still too early for that. What it sets out to provide for the reader is an examination of work in progress at a crucial point in a career. When I first approached John Galliano with the idea of a book on which we might work together, it was January 1996, and I had just seen his first couture show for the house of Givenchy.

Although John was enthusiastic from the start, Dior plans meant that the book had to be postponed – for a year. In the event, it was a fortuitous delay as now, in his second vear as the design director of a prestigious and well-established fashion house, he is even better placed for a retrospective review of how he reached this point. In the future, a full biography of Galliano must be written, as befits a world figure in his field. A full catalogue raisonne will also be necessary. At this moment, I believe this informal – but informed – account will fulfill a need. I also hope that it will go some way towards answering some of the questions and satisfying some of the immense interest that John Galliano’s progress from student to head of design at Christian Dior has generated – an interest which goes far beyond the confines of the fashion world.

I have been given generous help with this book at every stage, not only by John and his team but by the many people he suggested I talk to, and the many others they in their turn suggested in order to make this book as accurate as possible.

Everyone gave enthusiastically of their time, and I gathered information from John’s tutors at St Martin’s school of Art, his friends and his colleagues from his London years and many in Paris. Inevitably, most of the help came from John himself. not least in the matter of finding and selecting the pictures.

All the images contained in this book have been graciously contributed by the photographers themselves, and I am grateful for their cooperation. As the copyright holders, they have given authority for the images to be published on the assumption that their reproduction does not interfere with the rights of third persons to the best of their knowledge. Thanks are extended to all those who participated in the creation of these images. We have made every effort to credit all involved, but we appeal to the understanding of any we may have inadvertently overlooked.

Special thanks are due to: Amanda Harlech; Sybille de St Phalle and the staff at Givenchy; Katell le Bourhis and the staff at Dior; and Mesh Chhibber, press officer of John Galliano. David Rowley and Nigel Soper created the book’s elegant design; Sarah Halliwell typed my manuscript with speed and efficiency. I thank them all.

200 pages.

Condition: Great.