John Galliano for Maison Margiela

Fashion One shines a spotlight on one of the year’s most exciting fashion news announcements - the appointment of John Galliano as creative director of Maison Margiela. Created by Belgian designer Martin Margiela and famed for its innovative use of deconstruction, the house has since created one of fashion most powerful identities based on its discreteness and obscurity, with the designer maintaining such a low personal profile that even his appearance is a mystery to much of the fashion world.

In 2009 a press release announced the departure of the founder of the label, since then collections have been created by the talented anonymous team of the Maison. Rumors circulated that Raf Simons and Haider Ackermann had been offered but declined the position of creative director, but now the appointment has been confirmed as the brilliant flamboyant figure, British designer John Galliano.

It marks the official return to designing for John Galliano who in 2011 was dismissed from Dior and his eponymous label in the wake of a highly publicized incident that involved his berating customers in an anti-semitic tirade in a Paris bar. The incident forced Galliano into the fashion wilderness. With his return announced, buyers, the media and the public wait with baited breath to see the iconic designer’s reimagining of the Maison Margiela universe with his first collection set to appear at the beginning of 2015.