British fashion designer John Galliano, disgraced anti-Semite, seeks career rehab as a fashion mentor while sporting a Hasid outfit at New York’s Fashion Week.
According to the New York Post, the designer fired from Christian Dior is now looking to teach fashion to would-be designers one on one.
“John is taking things slowly. He would like to do some teaching at a fashion school, more one on one with students rather than lecturing to a large group,” the paper quotes its unnamed source as saying. “He hopes to finalize a deal with a school soon. It may not even be in the US.”
The fashion designer graduated from London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design is said to may be willing to go teach there. However the New York Post also names New York’s Parsons New School for Design among the possible options.
Galliano’s post at Dior was given to Raf Simons after the designer was dismissed in March 2011 for his anti-Semitic remarks in a Parisian café. The designer faced legal action and was ordered by a French court to pay a large fine after being found guilty of “public insults based on the origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity”.
After several years of rehab for alcoholism the 52-year-old designer has returned to the fashion industry, having been signed by Oscar de la Renta’s New York studio.
Galliano was the head designer of French fashion companies Givenchy (July 1995 to October 1996), Christian Dior (October 1996 to March 2011), and his own label John Galliano.
The provocative designer raised eyebrows Monday when he attended New York’s Fashion Week dressed like a Hasid. He donned the attire for pal Oscar de la Renta’s Fashion Week show. Galliano’s outfit was replete with long jacket, hat and curly “peyos,” or sidelocks — as he exited a friend’s Manhattan apartment en route to de la Renta’s West 42nd Street design studio.
Falling for Galliano’s antics, New York Jewish leaders too the bait.
“He’s trying to embarrass people in the Jewish community and make money on clothes [while] dressed like people he has insulted,” fumed Williamsburg community leader Isaac Abraham. It looks like the hairstyle he added was done purposely to insult.”
“Who is he mocking?” added Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind. “The way the socks look, the jacket, the peyos . . . My question is, who’s he laughing at?”
“If it was just anyone else, I wouldn’t know what to say. But considering who this guy is, considering his background and what he’s said in the past, let him explain it to all of us: Are you mocking us?”
Galliano was fired from Christian Dior in 2011 after a video went viral showing him professing, “I love Hitler!” in a Paris café. He was convicted in France of making racist public insults and was shunned by the fashion industry.
Of course, John Galliano has made himself a household name with such antics, and very well could revive his brand in the process.