Copy link Copied Copy link Copied Subscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Already a subscriber? Login In December 2010, John Galliano, one of the most celebrated British designers of all time, murdered his own career with a drunken antisemitic tirade in a Paris cafe. Kevin Macdonald’s feature-length documentary, High & Low – John Galliano , features footage of Galliano’s meltdown, and it’s not a pretty sight.
The same could be said of Galliano’s entire life in fashion, but up until this moment, signalled at the beginning of the film, the grotesque extravagance of his designs and his lifestyle had been no impediment to success. On the contrary, it was all part of Galliano’s mystique. Fashion designer John Galliano is a pathological exhibitionist.
Born in Gibraltar into a Spanish family that migrated to London when he was six years old, Galliano – whose full name is Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano-Guillén – grew up in a poor, working-class neighbourhood. He knew from an early age that he was gay, but also that his father, a plumber, was fiercely homophobic. Galliano loved to dress up and try on his mother’s lipstick when no one was looking.
According to his sister, he always had a love of costume and a vivid imagination. At Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Galliano was considered a star student. His graduation show of 1984, Les Incroyables , took its name and inspiration from a group of .