John Galliano has returned to the atelier. Spanish brand Zara has entered into a two-year partnership with the designer. As part of this collaboration, the British fashion designer will reinterpret Zara’s archives and adapt them to a modern context. Thus, Galliano returns to fashion after a two-year break, which followed his final Artisanal show for Maison Margiela in January 2024. The show took place in Paris under the Pont Alexandre III bridge during Haute Couture Week. It was distinguished by a dark, theatrical atmosphere. It was the strong drama and expressive images that made the show viral — it was actively shared on social networks and in the media, and the show itself became the culmination of John Galliano’s ten-year work at Maison Margiela.
Photo: Szilveszter Makó
“I’m working with the Zara archives,” John Galliano told Vogue during Paris Fashion Week. “The idea is to reimagine them.” The project came about after conversations between John Galliano and Marta Ortega Pérez, the head of Zara’s parent company Inditex and the daughter of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega. “I met Marta through her Marta Ortega Pérez Foundation and the exhibitions she organizes,” John Galliano explained. The Ortega Foundation, founded in 2022, organizes photography and fashion exhibitions in Spain. “It was through these exhibitions that we started to communicate and became friends. I like how open she is,” Galliano adds.
Since Marta Ortega Pérez took over as head of Inditex in 2022, Zara has been working with high-end designers. Among them are Narciso Rodriguez and Stefano Pilati. The brand has also released capsule collections with famous names in the fashion industry, including Kate Moss and Steven Meisel. Zara's partnership with John Galliano is notable for the fact that it will last two years. “I'm very happy because I've never done this before. I'm fascinated by the novelty and the process,” Galliano said. “Even my team, I remind myself every day: this is not this and this is not that. We're rethinking. It's an interesting process. And it's very relevant right now. From a creative point of view, it's a sustainable process, and that's important to me.”
Advertising.
Photo: Szilveszter Makó
In January, John Galliano was seen front row at Jonathan Anderson's debut couture show for Dior. Before working at Maison Margiela, Galliano served as creative director of Christian Dior from 1997 to 2011. “John has always been my hero,” Anderson said at the time. He noted that Galliano had been at Dior longer than the brand's founder himself: “For me today, he is Dior.” In fact, Anderson's debut couture collection was largely inspired by Galliano's work. It included references to his previous collections. Cyclamen appeared in many of the looks. These were the flowers John Galliano gave the designer when they first met. The show took place at the Musée Rodin and had a distinctive set design.
In the last two years since he left Maison Margiela, John Galliano has distanced himself from active fashion work. He says he has “stepped off this crazy path.” He has been going to museums, walking in the woods without his phone, getting lost and not being afraid of it. He has started to trust his intuition again and reconnect with it. “It was an important time to understand what to do next. Often it seems that the path is already set. But sometimes it is worth stopping and thinking, if there is such an opportunity,” Galliano said.
Photo: Szilveszter Makó
Since January, John Galliano has been working in secret in a studio near Paris. “It's early days now. I've already created a lot of sketches. When we look at them, it will become clear how far you can go without crossing the line,” he explained. The designer does not reveal details of the work. It is known that it is based on form and proportion and does not belong to any category: “You could say it is beyond gender and beyond seasons.”
John Galliano's first collection for Zara will hit stores in September 2026. The designer is also excited about the idea of making his clothes accessible to a wider audience. “Creating fashion for such a large platform as Zara is exciting. And working with such resources is also important,” Galliano said.
How does he feel about returning to fashion? “They say the third stage of life is the most important,” he said. “And it can be the most interesting.”
Based on material from vogue.com