I think we have to remember something. The fashion industry, the position and kind of scrutiny (that is still not very present tbh) on fashion designers didn’t exist back then.
Fashion designers are creatives so they can be irrational and they evolve in a world where a lot of things are irrational and when you are successful, you can easily be isolated and believe your own hype.
And John had a lot of hype. So suddenly when your ego which was already high experience wealth, a luxury lifestyle, you can easily lose yourself.
And we have to remember that at that time, the figure of a designer was a Couturier, an artist. And people are always enablers of artists. They can do substances, trash hotel rooms, be rude, be nasty. At they end, they deliver a collection, everybody scream genius and people believe it’s part of the game.
I mean I grew up watching tv understanding that YSL was sick making dresses. Every interview of him, he was talking about the torture of having to make those dresses to discover later that the man was just and addict and was probably high looking like a vegetable on tv.
It’s quite easy when in a studio, the designer is not coming often. By 2010/2011, the people at LVMH were probably already used to having reports of John missing at the office, episodes more or less details of what he was doing. But the man always got it together, he always took a bow, did his performance and it worked until it didn’t.
About the business, we have to remember that John like Marc already had existing brands that didn’t worked for a longtime before coming to LVMH. So it’s easy to understand why someone who was struggling for years would accept the injection of cash and ressources from LVMH. And we have to be honest, it’s difficult to be involved in equal capacities, even when your name is on the door, without the same ressources when you are used to the very best.
John Galliano as a brand never made money ever. Maybe John made the mistake of not differentiate Dior and his own brand enough. The other problem was that during the crazy years, the business model ultimately hurt his brand. John Galliano was supported through licences when Dior was all integrated. And they quickly stopped having strategy. And at that time Christian Lacroix was also struggling and ultimately sold.
LVMH are petty and I suspect that they wants to make money out of a potential sale due to the fact that they consider having invested too much on it. They would probably sell it more than it really worth.
Karl was maybe more clever about it because he was on his own and was dependent only in him on his career. He fought to keep his name. Karl Lagerfeld the brand never really took off. He used the collaboration and licenses strategy also and he had better lawyers who made great contracts that could protect him the person separately from his brand.
I think John may have been a bit naive in the beginning and wanted to be part of the establishment of Paris fashion. Lee was a bit more rebel. And ultimately he met Tom Ford who as a designer, had also at heart the interest of a designer.
The fact that someone like Nicolas who in 2000 was far from rich compared to some of his contemporaries, was able to have 10% of Balenciaga would have never been possible at LVMH…Or even Kering (PPR) if there wasn’t a designer up high.
The sad thing is that all the trademark possible for John to operate with his name are owned by LVMH. He can’t even comeback with just Galliano. It’s the same thing with Marc but if Marc wants a challenge he will likely go to another house.
Maybe John should approach Delphine. She worked closely with him. But he is not getting younger either…
