Terrible idea or major coup? Galliano’s Zara collection launches after Met controversy

A month after it was announced that a planned exhibition dedicated to fashion designer John Galliano at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art would not proceed, his debut collection for fast fashion company Zara has been released.

Called Re{form}, it was, according to a press release, “authored by the couturier John Galliano. Built from our memory. Made for now.”

Its launch in shops comes after controversy over plans to honour the former Dior designer, who was found guilty of a hate crime in 2011 after a series of racist and antisemitic rants, with an exhibition of his work at the Met and a corresponding Met gala – a juggernaut of popular culture viewed by billions globally online. The exhibition was cancelled but had it gone ahead, it would have been only the third time such an honour had been bestowed on a living designer. The only others being Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2017.

The backlash to the plans were vehement and widespread, with Met patrons, New York politicians and prominent Jewish leaders objecting. Writing in the New York Times, his biographer Dana Thomas labelled it a “terrible idea”, saying that “choosing this moment to glorify the life’s work of someone who was convicted of making antisemitic remarks … is downright bizarre”, and noting that “his infamous antisemitic rants were not an aberration”.

In other quarters in the fashion industry, not least in Anna Wintour’s corner, support for Galliano has been similarly full-throated. Many argue he has sufficiently atoned for his crimes. Others point out that it has been 15 years since Galliano, who was struggling with addiction at the time, committed them and that there ought to come a time for forgiveness.

Galliano said in his statement withdrawing from the exhibition: “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it.”

Given this fraught atmosphere and renewed attention on Galliano’s past, why has Zara pushed ahead with its plans?

For Zara, says Orsola de Castro, designer and author, this is “the coup of their career, their life, their brand”. Fashion critic Philippe Pourhashemi agrees: “For Zara it’s still a major coup that they managed to get [Galliano] on board.

“That’s a really, really big thing because if we really look at it from a rational point of view, it doesn’t really make sense that someone like him would work with a platform like that.”

More tangibly, there are logistics. The collection, which was shot by acclaimed fashion photographer Steven Meisel, has been years – and a lot of money – in the making and for some, even in the immediate wake of the Met cancellation, Zara following suit was an unrealistic prospect. Online, and in the form of queues outside the Zara store on Bond Street on Thursday morning, there was huge excitement for the unveiling of the designs.

Galliano has been working elsewhere in the fashion industry for years. Sacked by Dior in 2011, by 2013 he had returned to work, doing a short residency with New York designer Oscar de la Renta. From 2014 onwards he spent a decade as creative director of Margiela, bowing out on a final show in 2024 that was widely celebrated in the industry as legendary and history-making. His designs have continued to appear even on the Met Gala red carpet: in 2024 Kim Kardashian wore a chainmail, corseted Galliano creation to walk the steps.

The venerable Met and the high street are different beasts. Zara, which is owned by Inditex, the largest fashion retailer in the world, is a fast fashion brand who has previously been criticised for unethical treatment of workers. “Zara has done a really good job at whitewashing its image, and Galliano is also a part of that,” says Pourhashemi.

In terms of grappling with Galliano’s past, according to fashion expert and historian Tony Glenville: “His antisemitism and problems are something that in discussions I suspect they just thought, ‘this is fashion and we want his name on some clothes,’ simply a business deal.” Fashion as an industry isn’t inherently known for its ethics.

Zara will be hoping that it bolsters its perceived fashion chops. The collection, prices for which run from £17.99 to £699, is being positioned as a dialogue between Galliano and the Zara archive – conceived from archival Zara garments, it will be produced in all new materials, rather than pre-existing stock.

The collection is also being seen as a pitch by Zara to be seen as the brand of affordable luxury. In the age of Shein, Temu, Primark and supermarket fashion, it is, according to Pourhashemi, “vital, from a business standpoint, for Zara to distance itself”. It will also be hoping to differentiate itself from its own cut-price brand, Lefties, which launched in Liverpool last month. For Glenville, “all this is Inditex leaving the bottom price line to Lefties to do the hard work – and elevating Zara”.

For Zara the move is likely more about reputation than actual sales. “It’s an absolute hook to draw us in,” says Glenville, noting that many garments from these designer collaborations never actually make it to the shop floor.

Galliano is known for his theatrical, storybook designs, not for clothes that are inherently wearable. The designs are inspired by characters from his notorious 1984 graduate collection titled Les Incroyables: “Les Incroyables and les Merveilleuses – the defiant dandies and divas of post-revolutionary France.” Speaking to Vogue, Galliano said he “had no intentions to dumb down” for a more mainstream market.

Galliano has signed a two-year contract, so the stakes are relatively low. “If he does a couple of collections a year in small quantities, they get the cachet without too much risk,” says Glenville. “If it’s phenomenally successful, they’ll extend his contract.”