If there s one thing you can rely on John Galliano to provide, it s entertainment—though not necessarily the kind where the audience is meant to be scribbling down style numbers or sketching dresses. This season, his roll-up, roll-up fashion sideshow had a moral: Everybody s beautiful; live and let live; respect one another—that sort of thing. Against a schlocky 1920 s Art Deco theater set, he sent out a parade of proud couples—grande dames and gigolos, blondes and sugar daddies, fat ladies and admiring lovers, lipstick lesbians, bearded transvestites, and midget fiancés—about to be wed.
It s a long time since the fashion world has been reminded that humanity contains more variety than the standard race of 5-foot-10 skinnies who populate the runways. And Galliano s alternative cast, coiffed and made up in a style that suggested cabaret performers and their patrons, played their parts with a celebratory sense of enjoyment. Sure enough, the contagious atmosphere sent a rare outbreak of smiles through the show-fatigued audience.
Those who were also scrutinizing the presentation for a Galliano fashion update among the costumes came away with slim pickings, however. There were a couple of sinuous, vaguely twenties, Spanish hot-pink chiffon dresses, some champagne satin corseted gowns swathed in green tulle, the odd net-veiled jacket, and a bit of jeanswear going on. But beyond that, precious few clues about what this collection will look like once it reaches stores. Still, that s the way Galliano likes to project his house image these days: frolics on the runway, frocks back at the shop.
