Paris removes John Galliano's haute couture show from its calendar

John Galliano has chosen London before Paris for his return to the runway with Maison Margiela on 12 January and this decision has led to the label being removed from the Parisian calendar.

The British designer's show for Maison Margiela was initially scheduled for Paris haute couture fashion week, taking place from 25 to 30 January.

But the designer's decision to present in London beforehand has led the French Federation of Haute Couture to remove his show from the programme.

"It is an application of the rules. Only the latest collections, which have not yet been seen, can be part of the calendar," Stéphane Wargnier, Executive President of the French Federation of Haute Couture, explained to the AFP on Thursday.

"Since this collection will no longer be unseen, since it will show in London, it cannot be presented as part of the programme," he added.

Maison Margiela, which the British designed joined as Creative Director after three years of public disgrace, announced on Wednesday that its haute couture collection would be presented "as an exception" in the British capital.

It will then be viewable in Paris, "upon appointment", during the haute couture fashion week, but not as part of the official programme.

According to Maison Margiela, this choice has been explained as due to "personal" reasons, being as London is where John Galliano studied and started his career in fashion. But he is also "intrinsically linked to the tradition of cuts" of the British capital and the master tailors of Savile Row.

Some one hundred people are invited to this show, which will take place during the London menswear fashion shows.

It will be the flamboyant designer's big comeback to the catwalk. In October, 54 year old Galliano was appointed Creative Director of Maison Margiela, for which he creates the ready-to-wear and haute couture collections.

This appointment ends a three year exile for the designer, who was fired from Dior in 2011 after letting loose an anti-Semitic drunk outburst in a Parisian bar.