John Galliano, a British designer known for his eponymous label and decade-long role as creative director at Maison Margiela, announced his return to fashion via a 2-year partnership with fast-fashion pillar Zara.
The rain-soaked runway in May 2024 featured Galliano’s final Marigela collection. It marked the end of the designer’s extremely successful and innovative run at the highly influential fashion house. Galliano served as creative director from 2014 until 2024, when he announced he would be departing the company. The departure left Galliano in a fashion drought, until now.
On March 17, two years after Galliano’s departure from Margiela, it was announced that the design legend had entered into a two-year contract with Zara, where he would curate and reinterpret the brand’s archival designs into new seasonal collections.
While it seems absurd that a fast-fashion collaboration would pull an acclaimed designer out of hiatus, Zara has actually partnered with several major names in fashion, including minimalist icon Narciso Rodriguez, who designed Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress, and former Yves Saint Laurent creative director Stefano Pilati.
Galliano’s announcement has been met with mixed reviews, often described as “luxury-washing.” A Substack article from The Weekend Project describes luxury-washing, or haute-washing, as the adoption of high-end aesthetics while maintaining exploitative, low-quality production practices.
Along with Zara, this tactic has also been seen most notably in PrettyLittleThing’s rebrand from raunchy party-girl looks to bordering on business casual. The Cut also notes that while the aesthetic mimics high-end design, the material at PrettyLittleThing is still 100% polyester. Sofia Richie Grainge’s quiet luxury aesthetic is often cited when discussing fast-fashion brands’ shift toward it.
Despite the current trend at Zara and in the fast-fashion industry, Galliano’s new venture will likely stray beyond Rodriguez’s 90s minimalist, silken silhouettes and Pilati’s tailored coats worn by Gisele Bündchen.
Galliano is known for an extremely theatrical take on design, blending romance and a bias cut. The concept of world-building is also extremely prominent in his work. A garment is not just a garment; it’s a glimpse into a fragment of fictional history. In his final Artisanal Margiela collection, Galliano brought in 1950s fashion and exaggerated it with extreme proportions, doll-like makeup, and unique embroidery.
Galliano’s work, especially in the 2020s, has shown a flair for the dramatic. Unlike previous high-end Zara collaborators, Galliano’s edge is prominent in his pieces. While there has been no information about what the collections will actually entail, it is anticipated that Zara will be able to adopt and sell Galliano’s creative absurdity to a broad, fast-fashion audience.
Following a trend of subdued faux-luxury plaguing fast-fashion stores, Galliano and Zara have the potential to shift the public, bringing runway design to stores.
With concerns about huate-washing on the rise, this collection could also play a pivotal role in the public reception of high-fashion collaborations with retailers. It’s clear that the quiet luxury approach has left consumers feeling sour, so a whimsical edge could be the missing piece to turn the public.