John Galliano's Fashion Show Is Canceled

Hint is reporting that the show for John Galliano‘s namesake label, originally scheduled for this Sunday in Paris, is canceled. [@Hintmag]
The video of John Galliano drunkenly declaring his love for Hitler and discussing people who should be “gassed” had been in circulation well prior to the designer’s Thursday arrest for hurling anti-Semitic and racist slurs at another couple. The paparazzi agency that brokered the clip to the Sun had offered it for sale months ago, but there were no takers: Dior is a big advertiser. The unnamed person who took the video and cashed the check is “very happy.” [DFR]
Michael Specter, who profiled Galliano for the New Yorker in 2003: “Galliano’s act of self destruction was about as shocking as the widespread discovery, also this week, that Charlie Sheen is a vulgar fool. Galliano is a deeply talented man, and his early shows helped set fashion on a course it has followed for years, turning the business into a celebrity cult. But his career, and his life, were built on twin pillars of excess and exhibitionism. He was a slave to addiction; those addictions rotated through the years: drugs, sex, alcohol, exercise, and finally, and most damagingly, his own public image. But who could be shocked at his behavior? Who would have expected any other end? (If it is the end: the fashion world has a remarkable ability to shrug off the odd deeply flawed human being, as long as he or she can cut a dress like Galliano can or wear one like Kate Moss, who, despite behavior that sets a disastrous example for millions of girls, including issues with drugs, is forgiven because, well, she is really very pretty.)” [TNY]
Suzy Menkes reports that John Galliano will likely go to The Meadows rehab center, in Arizona. It has previously treated Elton John and Donatella Versace. She also writes that Galliano‘s namesake label, which is financially backed by Dior, “barely breaks even financially” and is produced under license. That any licensees will want to be associated with Galliano and his label now seems unlikely. [IHT]
Interesting facts about Dior‘s own profitability, from the Journal: “The label didn’t begin to turn a profit until 2002, and since then it has struggled to improve its bottom line. Its sales of €826 million ($1.14 billion) and operating margin of 4.2% still lags far behind that of Louis Vuitton, with its estimated €5.5 billion in sales and 45% operating margin. Despite the lackluster performance, Mr. Arnault has continued to pour money into Dior, which insiders say has always been the businessman’s pet project.” [WSJ]
Cathy Horyn reports that John Galliano did not contact Dior after his arrest, or during the weekend that preceded his firing from the house. Horyn notes “the lack of communication between the house and its star designer at such a crucial moment points to deeper strains.” The Times fashion critic also says, “The only show I have ever stood to applaud was a Galliano show, six or seven years ago. He used a special casting of sideshow performers – twins, fat people, exceptionally tall people, freaks in most people’s eyes — and he closed the show with a supermodel dangling a puppet in his likeness. The manipulated designer. But who was pulling whose strings?” [NYTimes]
More from Pat Field, who yesterday compared John Galliano‘s infamous “I love Hitler” video to the comedy of Mel Brooks: “I think Natalie Portman and others have been too quick to judge in this case without all the information being collected…Look, I’m not saying that anti-Semitism is acceptable in any way, because it is not. But I honestly believe that until the judicial process runs its course, any judgments should not be made so quickly. We live in a time where information gets out so quickly that things can get blurred without the full story being known. Nobody knows exactly what went on. John could have been being harassed and that’s why he flew off the handle.” [Radaronline]
Here is the inevitable drawing of John Galliano as a Nazi. [WOW]
There is a wild rumor that Riccardo Tisci, the creative director of Givenchy, will replace Galliano at Dior. Haider Ackermann will take over at Givenchy, and Stefano Pilati will be ousted in favor of Hedi Slimane at Yves Saint Laurent. [Fashionista]
One piece of good news for Galliano today? Never mind losing his job for being a racist dick: he’s won back the rights to control the galliano.fr domain name, which had been taken over by a cyber-squatter. [Reuters]

• According to anonymous retailers quoted in Women’s Wear Daily, Dolce & Gabbana are planning to end distribution of their D&G line. They want to focus on the one brand. Says one Italian store owner, “I don’t understand, because D&G is a line that makes 400 million euros [$531 million], it’s young and flexible and it’s doing really well. It’s a lot to ask retailers. In my case, for example, I don’t carry the signature line, but I’ve never missed a season with D&G. Domenico and Stefano are clever, though, so they must have thought this out and consider it a wise strategic move.” The company had no comment. [WWD]
• As had been rumored, Miranda Kerr walked for Balenciaga in Paris yesterday — two months after giving birth to her baby with Orlando Bloom, Flynn. Joining her on the runway was the transsexual model Lea T the model ID’d by British Vogue as Lea is in fact Jamie Bochert. Maybe it’s time we bring back British Vogue Copywatch? [Vogue UK]
• Nicki Minaj‘s Blackbook cover is out. It’s okay. Not as epic as her V cover. [DS]
• Tali Lennox and Tara Ferry are in the new Burberry campaign. That’s Annie Lennox‘s daughter and Bryan Ferry‘s daughter son, in case you were wondering. (See how many shits I do not give about these people?) [Vogue UK]
• Another famous rock star daughter and part-time model, Theodora Richards, was arrested in Manhattan for tagging a building that proved to be a convent. She was found to be in possession of marijuana and xanax. [TMZ]
• Blake Lively called Fashionista “mean,” but confirmed the random rumor they posted — about her not attending the Chanel show, despite the fact that she is a face of the house — anyway. It’s not because she thinks stars attending fashion shows for oodles of cash is “tacky,” however: It’s because the Gossip Girl shooting schedule won’t allow it. [Fashionista]
• Adriana Lima, on posing for Victoria’s Secret: “High heels definitely help. It defines your legs a lot! I don’t like to be barefoot or in flat shoes. At home, but never when I’m working or when I want to feel feminine. Your outfit and make-up affects how you feel. When I model for Victoria’s Secret’s Angels collection, everything is more delicate and lacy, so my hair is more light and romantic. It’s a different type of mood, a different pose.” [Vogue UK]
• Here’s Crystal Renn, modeling swimsuits for J. Crew. [The Cut]
• Lorenzo Martone — the man with the M.B.A in luxury brand management who did not marry Marc Jacobs — wears goat fur boots in his apartment. (Just like Dodai!) [Refinery29]
• Blind item! “Which former editor-in-chief of a major international fashion magazine is not speaking to the newly-appointed editor-in-chief of said magazine because the new EIC has (allegedly) been sleeping with the chairman of the magazine’s publishing company? We hear the affair has been going on for a few months now-since before the former editor’s abrupt departure and the new editor’s appointment.” Uh, Emmanuelle Alt? [Racked]
• Cintra Wilson, on the newly opened Alexander Wang boutique: “Mr. Wang has an uncanny ability to borrow references from his contemporaries without seeming to knock them over and pull their prices down. Example: unisexy cotton-poly jackets, softer than a cloth diaper, evocative of Lilies, the Rick Owens secondary line. But the cut is a shade simpler, and way less of a wallet gouge (cocoon wrap, $160).” $160 “unisexy” wraps? Ugh. [NYTimes]
• Crystal Renn, Carmen Kass, Coco Rocha, and Karlie Kloss all walked in Zac Posen‘s Paris show. [Vogue UK]