John Galliano presented the Maison Margiela couture fall 2022 collection. Galliano found inspiration for the Artisanal collection in a recent theatrical showing he saw of Dracula where videos of actors are stitched together in real time. ”I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to embrace fashion, theater, digital—all the cultures?” explained Galliano.
The casting consisted of Galliano’s familiar model muses and a few grand supermodels. “They lip-synced to a script following the misfortunes of a desperate pair of young lovers on the run.”
“They’re Hen and Count, driving through this mythical Arizona desert. They’re shot up,” Galliano explained in an interview with Vogue. “Then, we have what we call ‘spectral cowboys’ who come to assail them. Representatives of abuse of power, whether it’s the judge, the preacher, medicine, certain toxic relationships, patriarchal societies, and on and on..”
The bad men—who came bristling with guns—had sandstorm-weathered coats whose shadowy, creviced surfaces were created with micro-beading, dégradé jacquard, and flocking. “Because this,” said Galliano, “is haute couture. The highest form of dressmaking!”
“Films that have had a huge impact on the man I am today. A Streetcar Named Desire, Natural Born Killers, Suddenly Last Summer.” But beneath that runs a more personal thread. It’s no coincidence that Arizona, where the performance was notionally set, is the state where Galliano underwent rehab in 2011. It’s the place where he faced his demons.”
Did that make these recurring nightmares swirling around sin, sex, death, and parental and societal abuse subconsciously autobiographical? Galliano nodded. At the end of the show there was a smashed ‘black mirror’ dress, a symbolic reflection of the psychological impossibility of fully escaping memory—even in ‘recovery’—if ever there was one. “Because, as you see in the show, our protagonists keep falling into these dreams. The whole thing is based on a loop. An endless loop,” Galliano elaborated to Vogue.
Explore the full Maison Margiela fall 2022 Artisanal collection below, courtesy of Maison Margiela.
Couture looks
