Galliano fired from Dior. What now?

Yes, me too, I was shocked by Galliano's drunken anti-semitic remarks. And yet, I feel sad that such an innovative and original designer had to be such a jerk.

A man who completely reinvented the Dior brand, leading the famous couture house for the last fifteen years, is now facing a trial, said Paris prosecutor's office on Wednesday, March 2, according to NYT. He could face six months in prison and up to $31,000 in fines.

His friends are claiming, he was under much pressure.

“He has always been pretty shy,” said Daphne Guinness, the British socialite. She speculated that the intensity of creative and commercial pressures on designers at global luxury houses may have had an impact on Mr. Galliano’s state of mind. She added, “It makes me terribly worried for him. He has had a couple of tough years.”

Comments by Vogue Italia Editor Franca Sozzani are equally disturbing. 

"While I condemn John's words, I am frightened by how quick these young people were to try to gain notoriety or money while destroying the image of a genius in the process... Exploiting someone’s notoriety to have your own moment of fame is one of the most disgraceful and disloyal things one can do. Any famous person is open to attack or insult, and it’s difficult to defend him when, as in this case, the news goes around the world."

Pretty lame, I would say. Especially the last sentence quoted here... You don't say things like that if you don't believe in it, famous or not, don't you think so?

Grainline marking: á la Dior

I had to add this very brief post to my last entry on grainlines and fitting.

Some time ago I bought this great out-of-print book on Amazon:
Kenneth, Frances. Secrets of the Couturiers. New York: Exeter, 1984. Print

So yesterday, reading the chapter on Dior, I came across his quote on grainline marking. (By the way, it is amazing, sometimes you just happen to come across specific information just when you are interested in it most):

"To facilitate the fittings, the dresses arrive at the studio entirely covered with guide threads. Those threads, in contrasting colours that show up clearly against the material, have been sewed through every one of the pieces that make up a dress. One follows the grain of the material, and the other is at right angles to it [crossgrain marking,  a-ha!!!]. The bias lies between the two. The guide threads, pitiless critics, reveal all the possible faults in the cut, and must find points of equilibrium in essential parts of the dress."

It sounds almost poetic dear readers, doesn't it? After reading this chapter I made connection with what i saw in men's bespoke tailoring where all jackets were meticulously marked for grainlines. And Dior used tailoring techniques to the extreme. Back to Shaeffer again, many of her Custom Couture patterns apply classical men's tailoring techniques. A whole new chapter...