WWD caught up with John Galliano to talk about the renovated Dior store on 57th Street in N.Y.C.
So, what's Galliano's shopping strategy? "Don't ever go with a girlfriend! Leave her in the car park. Because she's only shopping for herself and her boyfriend -- not for you. The last person she's thinking of is you." And it's possible you'll find Galliano poking around in a boutique, because he certainly isn't shopping online. He noted that he "didn't even know what e-commerce was until last week."
Dior 2.0 aside, Galliano shared an amusing anecdote about his recent surprise birthday party thrown for him by one Kate Moss.
J.G.: It was last week. I'm like all the old actresses who have an official birthday and an unofficial birthday. This was my unofficial one. I started to organize it with a friend in Paris but it got all out of hand. It was going to turn very corporate, so I said, "Uh-uh-uh." It's just not the birthday you want to start bragging about. The big 4-0. [He exaggerates the number, to indicate that he has shaved off a few years.] So I said, "OK, we'll move it to London." I said, "I just want to do something quiet. Could we just go under the radar? Maybe to someone's house?" Anyway, Kate and my friend Francesca [Cutler] arranged it, a surprise. We went to the new bar that just opened at the Savoy. It's very Deco, very beautiful. I arrive and there were fantastic creatures there that I hadn't seen for like twenty years, the London posse. And then they introduce the acts. David Bowie had come over to perform for me followed by Diana Ross followed by Tina Turner and then Barbra Streisand.
WWD: Oh stop!
J.G.: No, you stop! And then the last person who came on was Michael Jackson! They were all impersonators! It was so English and so tawdry! It was fantastic!
WWD: We can't put this in the story?
J.G.: Of course you can. --It's a true story! So I go outside for a cigarette with Kate, OK? She has this little jumpsuit on with little sequins. She looked gorgeous. Some dirty old man walks by and goes, "Oh, you do that really well. You could be a model." She goes, "F--- off! I'm too short!"
Then French actress Isabelle Huppert turned up and a pair of twins started breakdancing to Michael Jackson. Or something like that.