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John Galliano with Zara: clever decision or risky gamble?
spoiler alert : 🎲
Undeniable talent of the fashion industry, John Galliano made his mark within the LVMH group in the mid-1990s. After joining Givenchy in 1995, he moved to Dior the following year, before becoming Creative Director of the brand’s entire women’s collection and then its fragrances, respectively in 1999 and 2001, proving himself to be a revolutionary pioneer for Bernard Arnault’s group.
From Couture To Fast Fashion Brand ?
After leaving Maison Margiela in late 2024, his future was as unclear as it was uncertain. Until yesterday, when news broke of a collaboration between John Galliano and the fast-fashion brand Zara. For two years.
Because, yes, over the last few years, leading fast-fashion retailers have been rolling out a growing number of capsule collections in collaboration with luxury ready-to-wear brands/ designers—and even haute couture houses. Latest examples: H&M with Mugler, or Zara with Ludovic de Saint-Sernin (and now Zara with John Galliano appaently!). But these are often exclusive, one-off collections designed to kill two birds with one stone: making luxury “affordable” and elevating fast fashion to a more premium level—only for the time of a capsule collection.
But today, with John Galliano, Zara is making a complete 180-degree turn with a mid-term collaboration! Is it lucrative for the brand? Absolutely. Is it interesting for the designer? Not sure about that. Indeed, for the spanish label, this is a godsend: elevating the quality of its merchandise with the help of a man considered a genius in the industry—they could not ask for anything better. We can see it as a way to gradually shed the label of “fast fashion empress” that’s been attached tothe brand’s name and to break into a new market to reach a wider audience.
As for Galliano, however… is this the right decision? After keeping a low profile following the anti-Semitic and racist scandal of 2011, he served as creative director at Maison Margiela from 2014 until the end of 2024, remaining in the shadows throughout. But while the industry seems ready to rehabilitate him following his numerous apologies and statements about his 15 years of sobriety, people were expecting a [positively] groundbreaking announcement. The news of the collaboration is indeed groundbreaking. But not in a positive way.
On the designer’s resume, creating for the average person—the one who can’t afford luxury items—is an EXCELLENT thing. An idea that aligns with the values John Galliano has previously highlighted, notably during his SS 06 runway collection, which featured plus-size, slim, very tall and very short models, and people considered beautiful and unattractive by conventional beauty standards. All of this was done with an inclusive perspective aimed at demonstrating one thing: fashion must be accessible to everyone, because everyone is beautiful!
But ZARA? How many scandals?
Exploitation of the Uyghur people (involving forced labor), an investigation by the NGO Earthsight that linked the brand to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region1, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh (which was a subcontractor for Zara, Mango, and H&M) in 2013, causing over 1,000 deaths, the opening of a 4,500-square-meter store in Israel despite the Palestinian genocide… we can stop counting. All reasons that illustrate why partnering with the Spanish is an idea. But maybe not a good one.
Galliano for the people: yes. Galliano for Zara? Absolutely not.
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