Dior Fires John Galliano For Racist Rant

By Jenna Sauers  |  March 1, 2011 | 5:08pm
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John Galliano has been fired by Christian Dior. Company C.E.O. Sidney Toledano, who is of Jewish heritage, called Galliano’s behavior “odious” and said in a statement, “I unequivocally condemn the statements made by John Galliano, which are in total contradiction to the longstanding core values of Christian Dior.” Notwithstanding its sudden lack of a creative director, Dior intends to go ahead with its fashion show this Friday. [WWD]
And a spokesperson for John Galliano‘s namesake fashion brand, which is financially backed by Dior, says that Galliano‘s show on Sunday will go ahead. [Vogue UK]
At the Oscars on Sunday night, Natalie Portman — who recently became the face of Miss Dior Chérie perfume, and gushed to the press about how nice Galliano was to make vegan Dior shoes for her — did not wear a Dior dress. But when a reporter asked her about that choice at the post-Academy Awards press conference, Portman’s publicist interjected, and the exchange was even stricken from the official transcript of the event. (Some are calling this “censorship,” which is a silly bit of hyperbole, but still.) After collecting herself, after watching that video, and no doubt after making a discreet phonecall to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy HQ, Portman released a statement last night that read: “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.” [On The Runway]
As for his ongoing legal fight, Galliano yesterday went to police headquarters in the neighborhood where he is alleged to have screamed racial and anti-Semitic epithets during three separate incidents. He arrived around 2 p.m., and waded through a crowd of photographers and reporters accompanied by his lawyer. Police had previously announced that Galliano was to be interviewed face-to-face with two of his accusers, Géraldine Bloch and Philippe Virgitti. The designer left the station around 7 p.m. He made no statements to the press, but his lawyer did say that Galliano “never made an anti-Semitic remark in more than ten years at Dior.” [Libération]
Meanwhile, Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani questions the intentions of the people who recorded the video in which a very drunk Galliano says, “I love Hitler,” and talks about all the people, “your mothers, your forefathers,” who should be “gassed.” Sozzani wrote on her blog that Galliano was “clearly provoked” and that the people who released the cell phone video were “just some parvenus of journalistic scandal who, in our opinion, were waiting to have three minutes of video to sell to someone for thirty pieces of silver.” She has since edited the post heavily, removing some of the above language, and adding, “we condemn the extremely seriously racist content of what he said.” [Vogue Italia]

T‘s cover story on Salma Hayek — which is ever so beautifully photographed by Cass Bird — contains one interesting tidbit: the actress is launching a skincare line called Nuance, to be sold at CVS. “I always wanted to do this,” Hayek claims. Some products will be based on recipes used by her Mexican grandmother, “because my grandmother, who was a beauty, she died at 96 with no wrinkles. And you should see my mother! We have some family secrets.” [T]

Victoria’s Secret model Chanel Iman is pretty much nekkid in i-D. [TLF]

  • Wallis Simpson‘s lingerie, Louis Vuitton luggage, and other personal effects are to be auctioned. [ABC]
  • Anne Hathaway reportedly made $750,000 for wearing Tiffany & Co. jewelry during the Oscars. [Coco Perez]
  • Kirsten Dunst is sending up the celebrity clothing line bat signal: “I wouldn’t say no, it sounds like fun. I wouldn’t want my own entire fashion line, but I’d do a collaboration, a one-off.” [WWD]
  • Johnny Weir says he will continue to wear real fur because “this is America, after all.” [StyleList]
  • Tina Turner made an appearance at the Armani show in Milan, but didn’t answer questions. [WWD]
  • New in tone-deaf send-offs to Black History Month: Out magazine named Malcolm X its Civil Rights fashion icon. Those glasses are so hawt. [The Loop 21]
  • There is an insane rumor that Blake Lively, a paid face of Chanel, doesn’t want to attend the brand’s Paris fashion week show because the frequent front-row guest thinks celebrities going to fashion shows is “tacky.” [Fashionista]
  • Czech model and tsunami survivor Petra Nemcova will be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. [Vogue UK]
  • Marianne Faithfull says she and Kate Moss are friends again. [Digital Spy]
  • Louis Vuitton‘s spring men’s lookbook includes the lovely Godfrey Gao. And a lot of sneakers that cost more than your rent. (Probably more than Godfrey Gao’s rent.) [TLF]
  • Rie Rasmussen, the Danish model and filmmaker who courageously confronted Terry Richardson about his on-the-job sexual misconduct last year, has left her previous agency to sign with Next models. [Vogue UK]
  • Speaking of the world’s most fucked-up fashion photographer: here he is hanging out with Monica Lewinsky, for some reason. [Terry’s Diary]
  • Kenneth Cole C.E.O. Jill Granoff, a former Liz Claiborne executive, has left the company. Cole himself has taken over the reins, temporarily. [NYPost]
  • Gap is launching an e-commerce site in Japan, and considering bringing Old Navy there. Alternatively, Gap may simply acquire an existing Japanese retail chain that serves Old Navy’s market. [WWD]
  • Here are ten years’ worth of editorials styled by incoming Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt. [The Cut]
  • Good news, thrifty fashionistas! Today on the Outnet, Balmain is up to 80% off. Meaning, instead of costing you the per-capita GDP of Brazil to go out in public looking like a complete twit with shoulder pads, it’ll only cost you slightly less than the price of funding three water wells in sub-Saharan Africa. [Racked]

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