John Galliano Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

For Spring John Galliano’s muse was the fictitious sounding but real Maria Lani. Passing herself off as an actress, she conned the creme de la creme of the twenties Paris art scene into painting her portrait and then absconded with some 50 works.

Over the next two years she cast her spell over Paris, and convinced over fifty leading artists of the day to paint her portrait, on the pretext that their work would star, with this ingenue, in a Horror Movie about “the painting that came to life” Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, Marc Chagall, Fernand Leger, Chaim Soutine, Giorgio de Chirico and TsuguharuFujita were amongs the names she charmed. All agreed this intriguing character could, no must, sit for them. Pieces are worked to interpret the artist; the muse and her unique persona layering shapes and combinations of fragile fabrics. Fine inverted pleats open into brush stroke draping and puffed out nuage collars, asymetric layered ruffles evoke the refractions of her subtly ever changing pose, while tailoring is belted high under the bust echoing Modigliani’s line.