GodsandKings

In February 2011, John Galliano, the revered head of Christian Dior, had a drunken, anti-Semitic outburst in public. A year before that, prominent designer Alexander McQueen tragically took his own life just three weeks before his women’s wear show. Both fashion icons fell victim to the ongoing battle between business and art that has plagued the industry for the past two decades.

Galliano and McQueen emerged in the mid-1990s, a time when fashion was both artistically and economically stagnant. They revolutionized the industry with their bold, sensual designs and theatrical runway presentations, breaking through the confines of a bourgeois, minimalist aesthetic. They shared similar backgrounds as gay men from harsh areas of London, and their love for fashion was nurtured by their devoted mothers. By 1997, each had secured positions as creative directors for couture houses owned by French tycoon Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH.

The impact of Galliano’s and McQueen’s work was felt beyond just the fashion world. Their unique styles influenced a wide range of media, leading the luxury fashion industry to transform from a collection of small, family-run businesses into a massive global corporate industry worth $280 billion annually. However, as executives demanded increasingly swift turnarounds and deadlines, the pressure became too much for the artists to endure.

In a single week, Galliano was terminated from his position and Arnault, the corporate mogul who owned Dior, was named the fourth richest man in the world by Forbes. Soon thereafter, Kate Middleton’s McQueen wedding dress launched the house into the public eye, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a successful McQueen retrospective, sponsored by the corporate owners of the brand. The artists had lost while the corporations emerged triumphant.

Journalist Dana Thomas investigates the real story behind McQueen and Galliano in her groundbreaking work, Gods and Kings. Through her extensive research, she illuminates the cutthroat world of haute couture and the toll it takes on creative geniuses.

作者简介

DanaThomasistheauthorofGodsandKings:TheRiseandFallofAlexanderMcQueenandJohnGallianoandtheNewYorkTimesbestsellerDeluxe:HowLuxuryLostItsLuster.Shebeganhercareerwritingforthe“Style”sectionofTheWashingtonPost,andforfifteenyearssheservedastheEuropeanculturalandfashioncorrespondentforNewsweekinParis.Sheiscurrentlyacontr...