S.W.A.L.K.
“There can’t be any poetry without death!” John Galliano cheerily yelled out Jean Cocteau’s words when he discovered some glitchs, which he sees as a beautify “decay”, on the digital image that Nick Night made him for the Artisanal A/W 2020 collection of Maison Margiela.
Throughout his oeuvre, from the 1984 debut collection inspired by French Revolution to his genuflected Dior years, Galliano is known for his unbridled creative energy with inspirations spanning various historical periods and different culture, his fashion is often described as “otherworldly” and himself “certainly from another time”.
However otherworldly John Galliano might be, the disruptive pandemic brought him right back to the bona fide annus horribilis of 2020. Under the lockdown confinement, he admitted, there was a moment of panic and anguish, but that soon replaced by a surge of hungriness for beauty and self-expression. That redux vigour of creation gave birth to S.W.A.L.K (abbreviation for Sealed with a Loving Kiss) and S.W.A.L.K. II – the two-part experimental fashion film replacing traditional catwalk shows to present his new collections. “I thought it would be a wonderful time to reinforce the ethics of Maison Margiela, of everything we stand for and to record it in some way that would appeal to Gen Y & Z”, said Galliano.
It is perhaps the first couture filmed by GoPros, drones and computer cameras in fashion history. The director Nick Knight believes this way coordinate with “the way people lives the moment” and “fits into the zeitgeist”. As Knight puts it, “you don’t have to be in a church to appreciate Michelangelo.” Through S.W.A.L.K, people not only get the chance to see Michelangelo’s work but also looking him painting! With GoPros worn on John Galliano’s head and chest, and on the creative team, models, and even dogs, the film shows Galliano’s creation process transparently including his references and the things going on in the atelier, the openness is unprecedented, especially for a house like Maison Margiela.
