Galliano out of fashion as Dior sacks designer over anti-Semitic tirades

AFTER conquering Parisian haute couture, the London creator may soon face court.

AFTER conquering Parisian haute couture, the London creator may soon face court.

He emerged from South London to conquer the City of Lights with a blend of creative genius and provocative stunts, but yesterday John Galliano was heading back to the shadows after he was sacked as Christian Dior's head designer for drunken and anti-Semitic tirades.

The British star, who was suspended last week, may now find himself making an eagerly awaited public appearance in a Paris courtroom on charges of voicing racist insults. Christian Dior denounced his behaviour as "odious" and said the designer had been fired with immediate effect.

Galliano's grip on one of the most coveted jobs in the fashion industry had been weakened by mounting evidence of his inebriated ravings in a bar near his home in Paris's Marais district. Two lawsuits were filed by people he had allegedly insulted, and a video was released on the internet that showed him saying "I love Hitler".

The coup de grace was delivered by Natalie Portman, the Oscar-winning actress who is the face of Dior's Miss Dior Cherie perfume. She told the fashion house she would annul her contract unless it cut ties with Galliano. "I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano's comments," Portman said. "As an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful."

Dior Couture chief executive Sidney Toledano, who is from an eminent Jewish family, said: "I firmly condemn what was said by John Galliano, which totally contradicts the values which have always been defended by Christian Dior."

Bernard Arnault, who owns Dior, was understood to be considering cutting his ties with Galliano's own brand as well. A spokesman for Galliano insisted his personal show on Sunday, as part of Paris Fashion Week, would go ahead as planned.

Mr Toledano had yet to say if he would unveil the autumn collection created by Galliano, 50, for Dior in a show set for tomorrow.

By then, the Paris prosecution service may have announced whether to put the designer on trial for voicing racist insults

in public -- an offence that carries a maximum six-month jail term and a E22,500 ($30,000) fine.

An investigation was launched after Geraldine Bloch, 35, and Philippe Virgitti, 41, said Galliano had insulted them in racist and anti-Semitic terms in La Perle bar last week. The publicity surrounding his arrest prompted a 48-year-old woman to file a lawsuit alleging Galliano had verbally abused her in the same bar in a separate incident last October. While the designer denies using racist or anti-Semitic terms, his case was undermined when The Sun published a video showing what appeared to be a third incident from December. "I love Hitler and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f . . king gassed and f . . king dead," Galliano told a group of people at the table next to him. When an unidentified woman asks: "Do you have a problem?" Galliano answers: "With you -- you're ugly." She says: "Where are you from?" Galliano replies: "Your arsehole."

In the two other incidents, it is alleged a slurring, drunken Galliano leaned over to their tables to insult them -- and particularly the women, whom he described as ugly -- before launching into an anti-Semitic rant. Mrs Bloch said: "He butted in and asked me to shut my gob, saying that I was a dirty whore, because he couldn't stand my voice, because I was foul and I shouldn't even have been born I was so ugly, and cheap and tacky."

She said he described her as a Jewish c . . t and her friend as a f . . king Asian bastard.

While police cannot find any witnesses to corroborate Mrs Bloch's claims, an officer said: "Two lawsuits for insults such as 'dirty Jew', plus a scene of Mr Galliano in a state of advanced drunkenness: all that weaves a worrying web around this designer."

Dior said it was unaware of Galliano's behaviour until last week, but fashion industry sources said his drunkenness had become common knowledge. "I can't count the number of times he has had to be carried home," said one source.

Some commentators suggested Mr Arnault was already looking to get rid of the Streatham designer, whom he plucked from obscurity in the early 1990s. Galliano's rockstar poses and once revolutionary shows have become an embarrassment to Dior in the more sober post-crisis era, critics said.

Marcellous Jones, editor-in-chief of thefashioninsider.com magazine, was surprised Dior had fired Galliano because "he makes them a lot of money".

"We were all expecting them to send him to rehab and . . . they are actually firing him," he said. "It's a bold move."

Lawyer Eric Rocheblave, an expert in employment law, said: "Dior, which has an international and therefore multiracial customer base, can cite fears of a slowdown in sales to justify this."

THE TIMES

ONLINE: Watch video of Galliano's rants at www.theaustralian.com.au