Journal

Collector’s Insights

John Galliano’s First Ready-to-Wear Collection for Dior

Autumn/Winter 1997, pin-up glamour in cheongsam silhouettes

In October 1996, LVMH moved John Galliano from Givenchy to Christian Dior. The fashion press received it with scepticism. Galliano was thirty-five, his eponymous label had nearly broken him financially four years earlier, and his very brief tenure at Givenchy had been perceived as brilliant but not in line with the French couture tradition. Dior was one of the oldest names in French couture and placing a British designer at the helm was not an obvious move.

His first collection, Spring/Summer 1997 haute couture, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the house  showed how Galliano could bring his flair for the theatrical to Dior without losing sight of the house’s history. The New Look silhouette was styled with Maasai-inspired necklaces, which are still some of the most collectible fashion accessories.The collection's chinoiserie section proved popular with clients so it continued in the ready-to-wear.

The Autumn/Winter 1997 - 1998 ready-to-wear show followed in March. Dior’s press release revealed five types of pin-up women: sweetheart pin-up, haughty, smouldering and venomous vamp pin-up, imperial pin-up, bohemian muse pin-up, lacquered pin-up, and is thus known among collectors as the “Pin-Up” or “Geisha” collection. The latter name comes from the strong makeup look. The Chinese cheongsam, characterised by a close fit, mandarin collar and frog or side fastenings, appeared in silk jacquard, wool, and angora, with pearl-button closures appearing across both eveningwear and daywear separates.The collection also had a strong pin-up element: nipped waists, high heels, rolled hair, red lips. The colours ranged from pastels, to red, black, and gold.

Galliano stated he was inspired by the models Christian Dior selected for his first collection. Rather unconventionally, Monsieur Dior advertised for models in the local newspaper, and the women who turned up at his atelier were predominantly sex workers. This was a recurring theme in Galliano's work from the mid-1990s, what the critic Colin McDowell described as figures who occupied the margins of respectable society: "hookers, geishas, hostesses in opium dens."

Pieces from Galliano's first seasons at Dior are among the hardest to find. The Epoque Couture archive holds several from this collection, among them the jacket and dress from the opening look in yellow; a red silk column gown cut as two panels connected at the sides by gold metal hardware fastenings, which references the cheongsam's side-closure detailing; a red jacket embroidered with gold thread in the Dior Cannage pattern, worn with matching trousers and bustier; and a gold and navy satin jacquard evening jacket with a high mandarin collar embellished with faux pearls, documented to the runway, subsequently worn by Isabelle Adjani at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, photographed by Nick Knight for Vogue, and later exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's China: Through the Looking Glass.