To celebrate his triumphant return to fashion, HOUSE OF LIZA proudly presents an archive sale of rare pieces of Christian Dior by JOHN GALLIANO. This archive sale spanning the designer’s entire career, starts with his early namesake womenswear collection and his first prêt-a-porter collections for Christian Dior back in 1997.
The first British designer to head a French haute couture house at Givenchy in 1995, and subsequently two year’s later as head designer for Christian Dior, Galliano started on his ascendance to fashion royalty arriving to Paris from London in the early 1990’s. With long-term creative collaborator Amanda Harlech in tow and a distinctly raunchy retake on the classic 1930’s bias-cut dress – reinventing it with a avant-garde flair, he was quickly defining his own signature silhouette whilst developing others in stellar shows such as “Napoleon and Josephine” in March 1992, ( awash with heavily embroidered naval coats and billowing lace gowns), and “The Princess Lucretia” in October 1993 (inspired by the Russian princess’s voyage of self discovery with ermine trimmed capes of heather coloured linen and enormous crinoline skirts stiffened with telephone wire).
With the support of American Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Andre Leon Talley and Portugese socialite São Schlumberger, who for Galliano’s Fall/Winter 1994-95 collection lent the then struggling designer her grand yet conveniently empty mansion, Rue Férou in Paris’s sixth Arrondissement, to stage his fashion shows; packing the house with fellow Arts benefactors and catapulting him to fashion stardom, John Galliano soon established himself as the most imaginative and inspiring designer of his generation. By the time Galliano came into his prime during his time at Dior with shows such as “Blanche Dubois” in October 2008 (inspired by the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire) his spectacular theatrical displays had lifted him to almost legendary status, the great romantic of the fashion world; with the ability to create stunningly vivid visual narratives – constantly re-envisaging classical themes, with a fanciful historical irony, through his highly imaginative clothes and transporting show productions.
The JOHN GALLIANO SALE at HOL consists of vintage, mostly runway and editorial pieces from such iconic shows, with especial note to the era defining jacket from 1998’s spring ad campaign starring Kate Moss which has been included in a selection shot especially to celebrate Galliano’s comeback by photographer Winter Vandenbrink; modelled on DJ’s Andy Bradin and Josh Quinton of “Disco Smack” and envisaged by stylist and art director David Motta.
