John Galliano in conversation with Colin McDowell

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JG I was fascinated with Baldini, the painter Baldini as well, and recreating, and still the, this was the first haute couture collection at Christian Dior with that Masai influence and that beautiful Baldini silhouette.

CM The incredibly elongated...

JG Well there you can see the corset and these fantastic necklaces inspired by the photos of Mirella Ricardi and La Robe Siren. Kind of that Edwardian, totally. I mean it was cut on the bias this dress and then it was hand painted which was really, really, you know it was hand painted by GeneviËve. Just the way, you can see it give it a kind of ethereal quality, that the dress moves so beautifully, and it was flattering, you know it fitted in all the right places and only begun to flare just above the knee, so the silhouette was there. The way, we padded their bums slightly to bring that slightly African theme, to make the waist look smaller. I mean, they had major corsetry going on, you don't even see that, but that was major corsetry, when the girls came in for their fittings we had to feed them bits of chocolate every three hours because they would be fainting. These girls had never worn corsets before, they were horrible things to like endure throughout the fitting, but the silhouette that was achieved was subtle but was there.

CM It was modern in feel.

JG Yeah, but the whole dress was cut on the bias so this fabric really moulded the structure we already had underneath, of course, because of Mr Dior's obsessions with under garments and things I was very aware of it at that point, being my first haute couture collection at Dior. I love the way Nick's kind of, the representation of it as well. You know when he first started, I mean his idea was to... I mean it's just so modern and contemporary that backdrop of this cellophane and the way it reflects the light. He wanted as well to treat it in a slightly irreverent way for clothes, but to make them kind of contemporary and today and work with each girl's personality, how she would wear it, not this kind of 'don't touch me' look... That was really exciting and contemporary to do, whether it be on Stella or Kasia or Liberty, it was really exciting.