paris

The six weeks before Paris Fashion Week are now marked as the time wherein the fashion world is rocked to its core after last year’s January suicide of Alexander McQueen and this year’s career suicide of John Galliano.

After video of him declaring “I Love Hitler” and “People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be fucking gassed,” was released by The Sun yesterday, Sidney Toledano has fired John Galliano from his post as head designer at Dior. The irony that, he too, would have been subjected to Hitler’s wrath under Paragraph 175 of Germany’s 1871 penal code (banning sodomy), seems to be lost on Mr. Galliano, who is openly gay.

Dior’s spokeswoman, Natalie Portman, spoke out against the designer stating that “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.” Ms. Portman also protested the designer at the Oscars by wearing a dress by Rodarte, whom was responsible for a number of the costumes in the movie Black Swan for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. Mr. Toledano, President and CEO of Dior, released a statement saying “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior.”

Rumor has it that Dior has been looking for a reason to fire Galliano after a series of collections that have received middling reviews and comments regarding repetition, but the timing of this incident couldn’t be worse as Paris fashion week ramps up. There’s no word yet on whether the industry will boycott the Dior and Galliano shows, but given that Dior is too important and that they fired Mr. Galliano, it seems safe to believe that the industry will forgive the famed house. They are, however, much less likely to do the same for Galliano’s eponymous label for which there is currently some speculation as to whether or not that particular show will be canceled altogether.

One thing is for certain, fashion has lost its King and there will be a brouhaha in the coming month over who LVMH will decide to replace Galliano. The safe bets are on any acclaimed French or British designer, but wouldn’t it be grand if say, Rei Kawakubo or, more scandalously, an American, was hired?

Sources: Hollywood Reporter and The Sun.

Update: Title by Momof3WildKids