An incroyable return: John Galliano re{form}s Zara
With his first collection for Zara, John Galliano returns to the instincts that shaped his singular vision, bringing the soul of haute couture to the world of accessible fashion. Anders Christian Madsen reflects on a revolutionary collection.
When John Galliano announced his creative partnership with Zara last winter, social media experienced two kinds of meltdowns. In one camp, there were those of us who slipped into a fangirl state of ecstasy that hasn’t faded since. In the other, there were those who couldn’t believe that a couturier could work with a high street brand. Some things in life, of course, are so special – so incroyable, so merveilleux – that they have to be seen to be believed. On Wednesday evening at an intimate viewing in an hôtel particulier in Le Marais, the fashion genius and the fashion giant revealed the collaboration, Re{form} Zara. “The idea was that I would choose a selection of archival Zara wardrobe pieces – a trench, a coat, a caban, et cetera – and use them as prototypes for something new,” Galliano says in a written Q&A. “I called the pieces in, and it may sound crazy, but I started to have a dialogue with them. Normally, I’d have a mood board or a character in mind, but this time, it started differently. I knew that memory was important, and that I wanted to give the creations authorship. Apart from that, there were no rules. I could make it up as I went along. I’d never done something like it before. It was new to me.”
The idea was that I would choose a selection of archival Zara wardrobe pieces – a trench, a coat, a caban, et cetera – and use them as prototypes for something new.
JOHN GALLIANO
Through a series of sensory rooms filled with soundscapes, imagery, artefacts and magnificent things, the installation at 70, Rue des Archives – which also houses the Re{form} Zara Paris store – trace Galliano’s creative process and the eventual manifestation of the characters that would embody the collection. “Going back to my formative years of spontaneously putting things on inside out and upside down, I created this huge jabot out of lace shift dress, which felt quite eighteenth century. I had taken a car coat and cut into a frock coat, and Thomas [Riguelle, Galliano’s muse] started posturing in it. I looked at what he was doing and thought, ‘Oh my God. This is Les Incroyables! This is Les Merveilleuses!’ I was cutting into bias-cut slips and reducing them to empire-line bras; things I did in my formative years. I had come full circle to John before he became John Galliano. After that, each piece I started to play with took on its own character,” the couturier says. In 1984, those same characters had appeared in his graduate show from Central Saint Martins: the dandies and divas of post-Revolutionary France. Four decades on, one of his most revolutionary shows had been reincarnated in his newest fashion revolution.
Re{form} Zara is a riveting, passionate and spirited project. A pure expression of Galliano’s singular, larger-than-life talent, it is without a doubt the most radical, otherworldly collection to ever hit the high street. Developed like he would one of his haute couture collections in his former jobs at Christian Dior and Maison Margiela, every piece – albeit industrialised for retail – bears evidence of the human hand, of a creative mind that thinks and dreams like no other, and of a willingness to imbue every garment and accessory with soul. “I’m bringing what I’ve learned in all the time that I’ve been a dressmaker. I’m sharing the savoir-faire. I think it brings to people a piece of design that is truly considered. And why shouldn’t it be?” Galliano says. “Sharing what I do with a broader and also a younger crowd is quite wonderful.” For the collection, Galliano conjured a number of new techniques including: “The Flix” where sheer layered garments build up the ghostly image of a coat, like frames in a flick book; “The Shi/ft” where familiar garments shift from one identity into another; “In-Cut-Yable” where Zara pieces are cut into Napoleonic silhouettes; and “Deep Pockets” where pockets are displaced to alter posture and attitude.
I’m bringing what I’ve learned in all the time that I’ve been a dressmaker. I’m sharing the savoir-faire… Sharing what I do with a broader and younger crowd is also quite wonderful.
JOHN GALLIANO
Four decades after Galliano brought them to life again, the return of Les Incroyables and Les Merveilleuses is hardly accidental. “Possibly, it’s something in the spirit of the time. I’m of course aware of what’s going on around me. I’m a curious person. I see and feel that the youth of today are reclaiming their power and making their voices heard,” he says. Back in the early ‘80s, Galliano lived through a period that would become formative to his creative expression. “It was the Thatcher years: upheaval in London. It wasn’t always a safe place to go out. There were IRA bombings on the weekends. Then, this subculture started brewing,” he recalls. “The New Romantic period had begun.” At Saint Martins, his research echoed the historical dress, club glamour and futuristic fantasy of the New Romantics. “I would dye shirts in tea and buy upholstery and over-dye it and wash it. There began my love of really creating a sense of history. I wanted the clothes to look like they’d been owned already, whatever it took. I’d wash garments far too hot so they’d fall apart. Heaven! Bleaching colours to become pale… I embraced it all. They were clothes you could wear inside out and upside down. Boys in skirts. It was genderless by structure. It reflected what I thought was beautiful.”
It has felt like a kind of serendipity. I’ve been having a great time. It’s the fun I had when I began working in fashion… to find that sparkle again – that creative energy, that skip in the morning – is quite wonderful.
JOHN GALLIANO
The 1984 collection instilled in Galliano a lifelong appreciation of garments imbued with the trace of time; with life and character and memory. In Re{form} Zara, he is showing a broader audience than ever what it means for clothing to have been worked, worn and weathered. “I think it’s cooler when it looks like someone owns their clothes rather than having been styled up. The different studies I’ve been making with pockets create a kind of posture or gesture which can generate a kind of confidence. You’re not just wearing the clothes, you’re owning them,” he says. In a more figurative sense, that notion of ownership extends to Galliano himself. Re{form} Zara has returned him to the instinctive, experimental way of working that first shaped him. “It has felt like a kind of serendipity. I’ve been having a great time. It’s the fun I had when I began working in fashion. It’s an innovative way for me to work that’s keeping me awake and excited. It’s new territory for me and I love that as a challenge. I feel it in my bones. My life has been blessed, from Saint Martins to meeting all the incredible people I’ve worked with and dressed. Not that I ever became blasé because I didn’t, but to find that sparkle again – that creative energy, that skip in the morning – is quite wonderful.”
Access to 70, Rue des Archives is by prior reservation on Zara.com only. Globally, Re{form} Zara is available in Zara flagship stores in Madrid and London, as well as on Zara.com, from 1 October 2026.
Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter
Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter
Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain
Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain
A new Courrèges: Débutant Drew Henry finds joy in disruption A new Courrèges: Débutant Drew Henry finds joy in disruption
A new Courrèges: Débutant Drew Henry finds joy in disruption
The wonder years: Kate Moss and John Galliano on fashion and friendship in the 90s The wonder years: Kate Moss and John Galliano on fashion and friendship in the 90s
The wonder years: Kate Moss and John Galliano on fashion and friendship in the 90s
Heritage in disguise: Jonathan Anderson plays with perception at Dior Heritage in disguise: Jonathan Anderson plays with perception at Dior
Heritage in disguise: Jonathan Anderson plays with perception at Dior
Golden years: Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent glow-up Golden years: Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent glow-up
Golden years: Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent glow-up
Hard and soft: Glenn Martens keeps it simple at Maison Margiela Hard and soft: Glenn Martens keeps it simple at Maison Margiela
Hard and soft: Glenn Martens keeps it simple at Maison Margiela
A house in motion: Silvana Armani loosens the lines at Giorgio Armani A house in motion: Silvana Armani loosens the lines at Giorgio Armani
