Galliano to exit Margiela in autumn, Fendi seen as next destination

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jul 22, 2024

John Galliano has decided to exit Maison Margiela in autumn, bringing to an end his 10-year tenure at the Paris-based house.

According to well-informed sources, Galliano has made up his mine not to renew his contract at the house of Margiela, despite repeated requests by the brand’s owner Renzo Rosso that the British designer re-sign for several more years.
 
Speculation has been rife that Galliano was about to make a major career change ever since he deleted all his posts from his Instagram account a few months ago. It has 1.6 million followers.

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Galliano would also leave on a high, since his spellbinding January 2024 haute couture collection for Maison Margiela held underneath the Pont Alexandre III. It blended Balzac, Victor Hugo, burlesque beauty and Paris lower depths, in what was widely regarded as the most important couture statement of this decade.
 
A spokesperson for OTB said Monday: “As you know – and it is normal in our industry - there are always a lot of rumors when creative talents are concerned. We never comment on them. All we can say is that relations between John Galliano, Maison Margiela and our group chairman Renzo Rosso, are very good.”
 
There have been multiple rumors about Galliano’s possible next position, with Dior and Chanel as possibilities. Though recent reports from insiders suggest that he may be on his way to Fendi.
 
The Rome-based house has two creative-directors – Kim Jones and Silvia Fendi for women and men respectively. While Jones has been a stellar performer at his day job at Dior Men, reviews have been mixed about his designs for Fendi, which he joined in September 2020. Fendi also appointed a new CEO Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou this May, often presaging a change in creative direction at a brand.
 
A spokesman for LVMH, the giant French luxury conglomerate that owns Fendi, declined to comment.
 
Gibraltar-born John Carlos Antonio Galliano Guillén joined Margiela in October 2014, some three and a half years after he was fired for a drunken rant outside a Paris café. Galliano was convicted of antisemitism, though reporters who attended the two defamation trials will recall that according to several bi-lingual witnesses sitting at the café during the incident he never specifically referred to Jewish people in the argument, or in a video that was leaked on social media.
  
Though the echoes of the video suggest that Galliano is unlikely ever to join Chanel, given that the brand is owned by the Wertheimers, a highly discreet Jewish family.

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Moreover, Dior’s women’s wear designer Maria Grazia Chiuri has had a remarkably successful run at the avenue Montaigne brand. Scoring double digit sales increases; creating acclaimed feminist collections and shows; most recently a brilliant Mary Stuart posh punk show in Scotland, that was the cruise collection of the season. Suggesting that her position is highly secure at Dior, where Galliano was the couturier for an epic 14 years.
 
Unlike at Dior, where Galliano took extended bows in elaborate outfits, he has never taken a bow at Margiela, respecting a tradition by its founder. However, of late he has been more forthcoming for interviews, notably giving an on-camera interview for System magazine this spring.
 
Dismissed without compensation by Dior, and after a brief one-season interlude at Oscar de la Renta, Galliano signed in October 2014 with Margiela, a division of OTB, the holding company of Italian fashion billionaire Renzo Rosso.  
 
Initially, there were doubts that Galliano’s theatrical and surrealist aesthetic would dovetail with Margiela, fashion’s most famous conceptual house. However, John’s rich imagination built an impressive body of work, driving rapid growth. OTB scored a 12% rise in revenues in 2023 to €1.8 billion, as revenues at Maison Margiela rose 23% in 2023. OTB does not break out turnover by brand, though annual sales at Maison Margiela are believed to be in excess of €400 million.
 
Galliano is understood to have been well-paid for his services at Margiela, though still less than half the annual salary and bonuses he earned while at Dior, some €10 million annually.
 
Another executive within the company noted that there have been multiple rumors about Galliano leaving, amid confusion about the direction of a possible next step. “Last week it was Chanel, this week Dior. It’s hard to keep track,” the source sniffed.

A spokeswoman for Margiela told FashionNetwork.com: “There is no official statement or anything.”
 
However, it is also noticeable that Maison Margiela is not listed on the next official Paris Fashion Week schedule controlled by the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which manages the French catwalk seasons. It will however stage an “event,” during the upcoming season – scheduled from September 23 to October 1 – though the exact location and contents for the moment remain obscure.