Maison Margiela's Paris Couture Concludes with John Galliano's Spectacular Success

The Paris haute couture season concluded with a dazzling collection from Maison Margiela, courtesy of John Galliano. A spectacular show ensued, providing a masterful depiction of Parisian history that would have certainly pleased literary figures like Balzac or Victor Hugo. Following Maison Margiela's founder, Martin Margiela's tradition of not taking a bow nor being photographed, Galliano, too, stayed backstage, behind a golden curtain.

The show took place inside a vaulted warehouse beneath the Pont Alexandre III. It showcased a variety of French and exaggerated archetypes including voluptuous courtesans, Moulin Rouge molls, pleading dolls, late-night gamblers and cat burglars. They performed amidst café tables, cheap chairs, police wanted posters, a battered pool table, and broken lights. This background also included bistro mirrors, which transformed into flat screens, offering a better view of the powerful opening performance by Lucky Love, a French singer and doppelganger for Freddie Mercury.

The screens then brought to fore a crime drama featuring a jewelry heist, corset entanglements, and a thief presenting a pearl necklace to the heroine in a shabby Latin Quarter brasserie. As the narrative shifted back to reality, a bare-chested, young dandy appeared clad in pleated pants and a tiny waist corset. He strolled through Paris’ iconic bridge, under heavy rain, before spinning in front of an outdoor crowd at café tables and entering the warehouse.

Some characters seemed as if they had stepped right out of Pigalle from a century ago, such as a WWI veteran turned spiv’ and burlesque dancers reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec works. The performance was akin to a surreal work of art, featuring cocoon jackets adorned with tulle pieces, gold satin dresses with grand bustles, and a countess in a corrugated cardboard gown and bonnet. Interspersed amidst the theatrics were spectacular clothes including sultry beaded knit dresses, see-through corset dresses, and herringbone wool blazers that would definitely set new trends.

The men, too, had impressive outfits such as Demob’ chalk-stripe suits and swaggering great coats. The show reached its pinnacle with Gwendoline Christie in a latex-like crinoline over a Delph blue corset, her neck and hands encased in a porcelain neck collar and skeleton-shaped gloves.

In a couture season otherwise deemed safe, the show's unparalleled creativity stole the spotlight, rendering it insignificant that celebrities like Kris, Kylie Jenner, and Kim Kardashian were present. Galliano, who had previously been dismissed by Christian Dior in 2011, made a triumphant return. Even in the face of negativity including sensational tabloid reports, a defamation of his Legion of Honor, and receiving no compensation from Dior, his remarkable comeback was clearly evident in the thunderous applause and foot-stamping at the show's finale.