John Galliano was born in 1960 in Gibraltar. Moving to London when he was six, he studied fashion at the prestigious London Saint Martin’s School, and graduated first in his class with a poetic end of year collection on a ‘French Revolution’ theme which drew rave reviews from the international press and was bought off the rack by Brown’s, London’s leading fashion store.

In 1986, Galliano was named ‘British Designer of the Year’ – an award he would win three times in one decade. After showing his Fall/Winter collection for the first time in Paris in 1990, to and ecstatic audience, Galliano decided to make Paris his home in 1993. In 1995 his extraordinary talent drew concrete recognition when the world’s leading luxury conglomerate LVMH tossed Galliano the design reigns - for both the Haute Couture and Ready-to-Wear – of the prestigious Fashion House, Givenchy. And a scant two years later, he hopped from one LVMH chair to another by assuming the role of the Artistic Director at Christian Dior.

Galliano’s first ever dress for Dior was a navy lace and crepe column for Diana, Princess of Wales which she wore to the opening of Dior’s 50th anniversary exhibition at the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Galliano has since followed that striking debut with Couture and Ready-to-Wear collections inspired from a dizzying kaleidoscope of sources: Christian Dior’s legendary ‘New Look’, Edwardian dandies, Masaï maidens, American Indian and Raj princesses, ghetto-blaster-carrying rappers, Peking opera divas, even – in one highly controversial Haute Couture collection – the homeless.

In November 1999, John Galliano is named Artistic Director for Most Things Dior: its women’s lines, leathergoods, shoes, lingerie and beachwear, but also all of its advertising and window displays. British photographer Nick Knight teams up with John Galliano to make sizzlingly sexy campaigns that project Dior as one of the world’s most desirable labels. Two years later, he’s given responsibility for the advertising image of Dior Perfumes too, which means more riveting visuals for Dior’s new perfume Addict and for Dune, Dior’s celebrated women’s fragrance. Reflecting Dior’s younger, sexier appeals, Madonna and Nicole Kidman wear Dior, as do Celine Dion, Gwyneth Paltrow and even funky music mavens like Lauryn Hill – to whom he dedicated his Spring/Summer 2000 collections – and Gwen Stefani, who wore a Galliano-for-Dior Couture gown for her wedding to musician Gavin Rossedale in 2003.

John Galliano’s sophisticated combination of audacity, glamour and street style are perfectly matched to the Dior woman of the third millennium.