John Galliano Off to Rehab, Fighting Dior Dismissal?
The fashion world has been left reeling from the whirlwind of controversy involving John Galliano and the House of Dior, but despite Galliano’s dismissal, the drama is far from over.
According to a New York Times report by Suzy Menkes, friends of Galliano—speaking on condition of anonymity—have allegedly convinced the disturbed designer to “go immediately into rehab,” presumably for his drinking problem (although a specific cause wasn’t given).
The article compares Galliano to Marc Jacobs, who completed his own rehab stint for drug and alcohol abuse in 2007; Calvin Klein, who has admitted to substance abuse in the past; Yves Saint Laurent, who “spent a lifetime fighting his demons”; and the late Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide last February after struggling with depression.
However, according to Menkes’s sources, Galliano won’t be taking his termination from Dior lying down.
“Although it has not been publicly confirmed,” she writes, “a colleague of Mr. Galliano said that the designer would fight his dismissal from Dior and now has retained the London lawyer Gerrard Tyrrell, of Harbottle & Lewis, who represented the model Kate Moss in 2005 when she was accused of cocaine use.” (Moss won her libel suit over the drug claims and was awarded substantial damages.)
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what will happen to Galliano's eponymous line, which is part owned by Dior's parent company, LVMH.