Central to any fashion-themed documentary is a parade of famous talking heads hailing unbridled genius. Kevin Macdonald’s portrait of John Galliano, the controversial former creative director of Givenchy and Dior, can’t quite escape the trope. Fashion-doc veterans, including Anna Wintour and the late André Leon Talley, are present and correct.
Galliano, the Gibraltar-born, London-raised designer who reinvented the catwalk and couture, is more entitled to the hyperbole than most. Using a carefully considered marriage of archive footage and interviewees, Macdonald, the deft talent behind The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void, fashions a compelling chronicle of Galliano’s innovative years at St Martin’s College and his dizzying ascent to the apex of Paris fashion.
High & Low is no puff piece, however. In February 2011 Galliano was filmed making a string of racist and anti-Semitic remarks. He was promptly fired from his job(s) and convicted by a French court. Fashionistas will know that Wintour and other fans rallied around and that Galliano went into rehab, sought advice from a rabbi and is now designing at the hip Belgian house Maison Margiela.
In archive footage, Kate Moss is poignantly ecstatic that Galliano has designed her 2011 wedding dress, mere months after his Parisian fall. By 2013 he was working at Oscar de la Renta in a deal apparently partly negotiated by Wintour. These details coalesce to indict an industry that seems to value pretty frocks over ethics.
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Mostly, this is a film of intriguing, maddening loose ends. Did Galliano self-sabotage to escape the impossible corporate demands of 32 collections a year? Are there anti-Semitic clues in his deeply Catholic upbringing?
It’s hard to say, for all the various suggestions. At the beginning of the film Galliano stares into the lens and proclaims, “I’m going to tell you everything.” He proceeds to dodge the pertinent questions. The fashion community generally say even less, save for providing a parade of famous talking heads heralding unbridled brilliance.
High & Low: John Galliano is in cinemas from Friday, March 8th
