July 4, 2019 |
“I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead” boomed the Bauhaus track about Bella Lugosi (R.I.P). The lyrics could have been a Maison Margiela show review, (delivered by a ssuperfanin a full look, with additional camp arm flapping and faux feinting). John Galliano serves high fashion of a calibre that makes people go giddy. He pushes creativity to the edges of expression, surprises, delights and weirds his audience out – all at the same time.
For his Co-Ed artisanal collection, Galliano continued to explore themes of decadence and an end days. The show notes talked of “desire without reason,” “fetishised consumption” and a “carte Blanche for new impulse”. Where do you go when anything goes? For Galliano it manifested as fetish inspired leather shorts worn over suspenders, vests that had migrated down the body to become shorts, their straps dangling down by the calves. Boys, girls and non-binary others wore traditional tailored jackets that sat not on the shoulders but the waist and morphed into trailing bustled ball skirts. Overcoats came in multi-layers of organza punched with portholes. Everything was familiar – you recognised the component parts of a look but they were made strange. That’s Galliano’s genius. Let your eyes adjust. Maison Margiela magical decadence and end of days.
