Clash of the Dior Titans: Galliano v Simons

Raf Simons' recent attacks against Galliano, his predecessor as creative director at Christian Dior, begs fashionistas to compare the three greats

What is the verdict when we compare John Galliano's work under Dior versus the newcomer, Raf Simons? With Simons throwing strong verbal blows against his predecessor (the eccentric yet highly-regarded Galliano) Ahram Online takes a look at how this is affecting the Dior desirability.
Dior, the luxury fashion name was founded by Christian Dior in 1946 and made fashion history for the “New Look.”
A risky decision, Dior broke post-war frugality and fabric constraints, gaining attention for their extravagant designs of the full-skirted silhouette. Dior's “New Look” was the breath of fresh air every woman needed after WWII and took the world by surprise.
Majestic and deep-rooted in history, Dior makes the creative director a covetable position for any designer. For several years (1997 – 2011) John Galliano drew a lot of talk – and great publicity – to the fashion house when he impressed his dramatic, artistic, intense signature all over Dior's couture.
Creative directors generally attempt to make their couture tantalisingly more desirable. Did John Galliano accomplish that?
Galliano seemed to made the line so distinguishable from any other creative directors' vision of a couture: his Dior dresses scream femininity and steals the show on any stage - whether the runway or in real life.
Dark, intense, mysterious, soulful, rich with details was John Galliano's work for Dior. Galliano was recently dismissed from the Dior house for anti-Semitic remarks.
The media called it a “scandal.” Others perceived it as a drunk man's slip of the tongue.
In a Parisian cafe, under the influence of alcohol Galliano blurted a barrage of anti-Semitic and anti-Asian remarks on at least three occasions - some were caught on video. One of them was to a Jewish woman: "I love Hitler," and "People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be f [expletive] ing gassed and dead."
As a result, John Galliano was sacked from the house of Dior in February 2011. According to US weekly, the Dior house stated that the company has a "zero-tolerance" policy toward anti-Semitism. Galliano has seemed remorseful since then, explaining he has been addicted to alcohol and sleeping pills and is "committed to making amends to those I have hurt."
The question now at hand is, however: has his replacement, Raf Simons, done well for Dior?
Vogue UK reveals that Simons, a Belgian designer, underwent a dramatic career change. He started designing furniture and ended up dressing women as the creative director of Dior.
Lately, Simons has gotten into a habit of stating what “is” and “isn't” Dior and has been criticising John Galliano's work.
He boldly told Vogue UK in an interview “Christian Dior [who died in 1957] himself would not have been happy with John Galliano's work.”
What we've seen from Simons, however, such as plain, oversized designs in blinding neon yellows and oranges, seems to go against everything in Dior's style palate.
Raf Simons also stated in January that "Dior's ultimate obsession is that he wanted [the public] to wear it. I want them to wear it on the street."
Any designer in the world would want his work to reach the public, but wear them on the street? The Dior brand says “luxury,” and “lavish,” and the “New Look” that flourished after WWII was all about glamour and couture - not quite street wear.
What would Dior's reaction be if he saw that his glamourous brand included jeans?
It's easy enough to do a simple visual comparison, relying on pictures of Christian Dior couture in the 40's and 50's, Galliano's work in 2011 and Raf Simon's work last season.
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Sama Eissa, after receiving her BA in Politics, pursued her passion for fashion. She is currently in the midst of obtaining her Fashion Design Diploma in a joint programme with the Instituto di Moda Burgo from the Fashion Design Centre. She takes fashion seriously, considering that every woman wakes up thinking what she's going to wear that day. A woman wants to reflect who she is.
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