"I love designing for women; you are so complex, so unpredictable. You have so many things you want, need, demand the clothes to say - 'I want to be empowered, romantic, whimsical, flirtatious, mesmerising, I want to look like I haven't tried that hard, I want to look like I have been to the gym every day for months'. I have a lot of secrets to keep, but it's teamwork, together we can hide those hips, get creative with those curves, and bring out your siren. Clothes are co-conspirators, your ally and partner in crime but be sure they work with you, not against you, or overpower you. The perfect dress is more loyal than the perfect man on the red carpet. A man might say, 'Oh, you look nice dear', but a great dress can make you look and feel amazing, bring you out of your shell and make you all the things you hope you are.
Getting dressed each morning is a ritual that everyone goes through, yet you have to vary and find inspiration for every day. It's like you're dressing for battle, putting on your uniform, war paint and then you will be ready to take on the world. I get up and go to the gym, go for a run to clear my head and prepare myself for the day.
I think about the dilemmas of dressing when I am designing, or when I am getting dressed myself. The reason I launched Galliano Homme was because so many of my guy friends would say: well, what about us? So I looked at my own wardrobe and started to design what I wanted, and what my wardrobe lacked. Clothes can say so much about you. Clothes give people clues to your mood, your personality, your identity, they conceal your shyness and any nerves and speak before you've even uttered a word. Clothes are the subtitles if you like, they are what you are trying to say and who you want to be. Power suits and power dressing didn't happen by accident!
Clothes are there to be friends, or remind you of friends. A Lacoste top will always make me think of my friend Steven [Robinson], a flat cap Stephen Jones, a vintage shawl perhaps a night out with Kate [Moss]. Clothes are memories and I want to decorate your dreams. Above all I want fashion to be beautiful, escapist, aspirational. Fairy godmothers are hard to come by so let me tell you: you shall go to the ball! Make life more of a fantasy and more of the story you imagined.
When I am working in the studio I could be in jeans, T-shirt or waistcoat, it depends. My hair is quite long so it's usually twisted up, in a bandana or a cap. Clothes should tell a story and take you on an adventure. I love to see my clothes step out - maybe on Kate when she went to get her award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in Dior; we made her a cocktail dress in nude chiffon and black net and jet beading and she looked major - or Princess Diana who wore the first design I did for Dior, before I had even done my first show for the house! When Cate Blanchett wore Galliano to the Oscars we were both relative newcomers to the red carpet. We came up with a Garden of Eden dress, with flowers, vines and hummingbirds embroidered up her back. She looked so amazing in it. I love clothes that make you look twice, and that is what's worth getting dressed for."
-John Galliano for Guardian.co.uk
