John Galliano’s Dior 2009: When Old Masters Became Haute Couture

John Galliano’s Spring/Summer 2009 Haute Couture collection for Christian Dior transformed the paintings of the Old Masters into fashion. Drawing on Flemish and Northern Renaissance portraiture, Baroque color, Dutch painting, historic dress and the archives of Christian Dior, Galliano created one of his most extraordinary conversations between art history and haute couture. In this episode of One Fashion Question, we look closely at how paintings by Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Pieter Bruegel, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Hans Memling, Vermeer and Rembrandt reappear through silhouette, color, embroidery, lace, hats and extraordinary couture construction. We also explore Galliano’s fascination with exposing the structure of a garment itself. For Dior Spring 2009, seams, linings and traditional couture techniques became part of the visual language of the collection, turning the hidden labor of the atelier into decoration. Stephen Jones’s extraordinary millinery, Delft-inspired blue and white, Old Master reds and browns, exaggerated historical proportions and references to Christian Dior’s own love of art made the collection much more than an exercise in historical costume. Galliano was asking what happens when the visual language of painting is translated into movement, fabric and the human body. CHAPTERS 00:00 — John Galliano for Dior Spring 2009 Haute Couture 00:56 — Jan van Eyck and Northern Renaissance Detail 02:05 — Rogier van der Weyden: Drapery, Emot