That'll learn him

Suzy Menkes has an article in The New York Times on the John Galliano tizzy:

John Galliano, the talented and troubled designer who was fired by the fashion house Christian Dior for making anti-Semitic remarks in a drunken rant at a bar, will be put on trial for the offenses, the Paris prosecutors office has said.
Mr. Galliano, who friends said has left France to enter a rehabilitation program, also issued an apology through his London lawyer’s office on Wednesday: "Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offense."
The prosecutors office said the trial could take place between April and June of this year and that, if found guilty, Mr. Galliano could face as long as six months in prison and up to €22,500 ($31,000) in fines. French law makes it a crime to incite racial hatred; the statute has been used in the past to punish anti-Semitic remarks.
The designer’s statement said he was "subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing" during the altercation at a Paris cafe last week. He also has started legal action for defamation, his statement said.
Mr. Galliano was persuaded to accept treatment for his alcohol problems by close colleagues and friends like the supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, sources said, asking to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the situation. While the treatment center is not known, it is likely that his destination is the Meadows, a facility in Wickenberg, Arizona, where Elton John and Donatella Versace were treated in the past.
For Christian Dior, the billion-dollar company, the problems are only multiplying. The Dior autumn 2011 women’s wear show will go ahead here on Friday, according to a person at Dior who asked not to be identified.
The future of the John Galliano brand, which is underwritten by Dior, relies on licenses and barely breaks even financially, is complex. Executives will have to see whether those external partners still want to be associated with a designer whose name has been globally smirched.
But more dramatic for Dior, and for the entire future of haute couture, is the problem of finding a replacement for Mr. Galliano. From the British designer’s tsunami of ideas in the twice-a-year haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, design teams build ranges of inter-season collections and accessory lines. Without leadership, the fashion house can run only a short time on empty.
In the past, Dior’s parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and its founder and chief executive, Bernard Arnault, have tended to switch both executives and designers from brand to brand. Mr. Galliano himself started his reign at LVMH at Givenchy in 1995, before switching to Dior the following year. So it is natural that the name of Riccardo Tisci, the current designer at Givenchy, is considered high on the list of possible replacements at Dior.
The Italian-born and British-trained Mr. Tisci, like Mr. Galliano an alumni of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, has climbed the steep learning curve toward the heights of haute couture at Givenchy. The theory goes that other LVMH brands, like Céline, Loewe and Louis Vuitton, might then follow with changes in a kind of fashion merry-go-round.
Other theories suggest that a rising fashion star might be plucked to take over at Dior or that an established success story, such as the invigoration of Lanvin by the designer Alber Elbaz, could be transferred to the LVMH stable. But with so many long-established houses searching for new talent, even with the might of Dior a speedy choice may not be easy.

Rico says that, if there's one thing he does not care a damn thing about, it's the entire future of haute couture...