You may have thought to compare John Galliano’s anti-Semetic remarks — those caught on camera and those that have just been alleged — to any number of celebrities’ falls from grace. But few in fashion will come out and say so, actually name those scandalized names — a number of the industry’s most high-profile people are trying to find excuses for Galliano’s inexcusable statements. The New Yorker’s Michael Specter, who profiled Galliano in 2003, comes out with it:
[W]hen I see people expressing shock and outrage at what he said, I have to contain a little bit of my own shock and outrage. Galliano’s act of self destruction was about as shocking as the widespread discovery, also this week, that Charlie Sheen is a vulgar fool.
Specter writes that it’s even too soon to say if Galliano’s career is totally destroyed, wisely noting that “the fashion world has a remarkable ability to shrug off the odd deeply flawed human being, as long as he or she can cut a dress like Galliano can or wear one like Kate Moss, who, despite behavior that sets a disastrous example for millions of girls, including issues with drugs, is forgiven because, well, she is really very pretty.”
JOHN GALLIANO’S IMPLOSION [NYer]
