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John Galliano’s Sexy Slav Chic

John Galliano went east this season, with a collection that ranged across the whole of the Slavic world, before ending in the bedroom of a king's mistress.

Presented on Wednesday, March 11 in a disused railway station under a moderate blizzard of snow from canons attached to the roof, the collection tapped into influences as far and wide as Pontian Greeks and Evzones to Magyar maids and Kazakhstan courtesans.

But what mattered most in this show was the inventive new silhouette and the sheer audacity of Galliano’s sexy evening finale. He whipped up some strikingly new volume coats with drop shoulders, ballooning arms, huge pocket flaps and a sense that if Catherine the Great landed in a time machine tomorrow, these are the first clothes she would order.

Russian peasant lasses in the sauciest of party frocks, wraparound minis and some great white blouses with billowing arms added to the cay Eastern moment. But the finale took the cake, or rather the pierogi, with a series of largely sheer catsuits and column dresses, revealing sequined knickers and bras all accessorized with crystal necklaces. It was the season’s boldest image by far.

The show will probably go down as the best staged of any this season in the four major cities, a tribute to its producer Alex de Betak, whose white laser tunnel of light was pretty breath-taking.

Galliano took his bow, attired like a cracked admiral, now happily retired as pirate designer. He is batting way out on left field and skipping the dominant trends in Europe, but still hitting home runs.

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