- John Galliano made anti-Semitic comments while drinking at a Paris café in February 2011, praising Hitler and insulting a couple about their Jewish heritage. - He was convicted of a crime and suspended from his role as creative director of Christian Dior, where he had worked for 14 years. - Dior CEO Sidney Toledano immediately fired Galliano when video evidence surfaced to show separation from Dior's zero tolerance policy against racism and anti-Semitism. - The incident caused major press coverage and criticism of Galliano's actions from celebrities like Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour.

2. • Incident time: February 24th, 2011
• Place of incident: Paris Café
• Scene: Galliano in a Paris café,
drinking, felt insulted, spoke out
obscenities to Geraldine Bloch and
Philippe Virgitti
• Accusation: insulting a couple about
their Jewish and Asian heritage and
praising the notorious Adalf Hitler

3. "I love Hitler," Galliano said in
a video obtained by Britain's
Sun newspaper. "Your mother,
your forefathers would be f---
ing gassed and f---ing dead."
"I only have myself to blame and I
know that I must face up to my own
failures and that I must work hard to
gain people's understanding and
compassion," Galliano said in a
statement. "Anti-Semitism and racism
have no part in our society.” John G.

4. • Convicted: Guilty of making
public insults based on origin,
religious affiliation, race or
ethnicity.
• Not only accused of this but a
previous occurrence where he
through a chair in a bar in rage a
few months prior
- Pay a 4,000-euro($5,620) But
that was lifted so their ended up
being no penalty
- Could have served up to six
months in jail and fined for
22,500 euros($32,410)

5. Dior No More.
• Galliano, who has been
Dior's acclaimed creative
director for 14 years, has
been suspended from all
duties during a police
inquiry into the
altercation in a bar in the
Marais district of Paris.
"The House of Dior declares with the greatest
firmness its policy of zero tolerance with regard to
any anti-Semitic or racist statement or attitude,"
the head of Dior, Sidney Toledano, said in a
statement.

6. sources
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/09/08/france.designer.trial/
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8590892/John-Galliano-
timeline-of-a-scandal.html
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/25/john-galliano-
suspended-by-dior

7. Press Exposure
Galliano
Keisha Burr

8. Press Exposure
• Any one who could type covered the “Bad
Boy” of fashion latest craziness.
• After one week Galliano is dismissed from the
House of Dior after anti-Semitic comments.
• The event went viral after it was recorded
when the designer was having dinner.
• This incident even makes the pages of
“Vogueipedia”

9. Television

10. Newspapers

11. Gossip Coloums

12. Bloggers partook in
slamming Galliano his
choice words.
This image is from
humorchic.blogspot.com
Blogs

13. Celebrity Reponses
Fashion blogger
I'm furious, if you want to know…I'm furious with
him because of the harm he did to LVMH and
Bernard Arnault, who is a friend, and who
supported him more than he supported any
other designer in his group, because Dior is his
favourite label. It's as if he had his child hurt."
Karl Lagerfeld
"This is all so tragic.”
Anna Wintour

14. Celebrity Reponses
"Everything he has done has not
revealed someone who is racist --
quite to the contrary....With
recordings, people can be made to
say things that they did not say.
They pronounce some words, but
what is the context? The person
(speaking to Galliano) seems very
assured, knowing very well what
she is doing." –Gaultier to AFP
The pressure from fast fashion and from
the instant Internet age to create new
things constantly has worn down other
famous names. Marc Jacobs, design
director of Louis Vuitton, ended a wild
streak in rehab. Calvin Klein famously
rambled across a sports pitch and
admitted to substance abuse. And the
late Yves Saint Laurent spent a lifetime
fighting his demons. " –Suzy Menkes NY
Times

15. Actions Taken to Date
• February 2011- Christian Dior CEO Sidney
Toledano and Owner Bernard Arnault
suspended the designer until a full
investigation of the incident was completed.
• Video released on website; Arnault and
Toledano forced to immediately fire Galliano
to show separation of the Dior brand from the
designer.

16. Actions Taken to Date
• Paris Fashion Week- Toledano made an appearance and
spoke to the audience, never mentioning Galliano by name, but
expressing shame and disapproval of the remarks made.
• Focused on praising the work of seamstresses and artisans who
brought the collection to life.

17. Actions Taken to Date
• These individuals took to the runway at the end of the show,
which typically would have been Galliano’s moment.

18. Sidney Toledano Statement
• “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a
total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended
by the House of Christian Dior” (Real Style Network, 2011)

19. PR Firm’s Opinion on Handling the
Situation
• Initially suspending him was fair based on
accusations, but when tangible evidence was
brought forward, firing him was essential, despite
the difficulty in doing so.
• “Since 1996, Galliano was Dior. Galliano helped
revitalize Dior after he joined the company as
creative director. His designs increased sales and
made Dior a fashion staple with celebrities. Dior
and Galliano had become synonymous.”

20. The Parson’s Incident
• April 22, 2103- Galliano will teach the three-day
workshop and the final critique will reportedly be
given by Galliano and Parsons dean Simon
Collins.
• The Parsons appearance marks the second time
that the fashion industry has shown some
forgiveness towards Galliano. Fellow designer
Oscar de la Renta had invited Galliano into his
studio prior to his show during New York Fashion
Week earlier this year to help prepare for the
show (bizjournals.com)

21. The Parson’s Incident
• April 25, 2013- “It doesn't matter if its for three
months or three days, hiring someone who has
made such horrific comments shows that the
school values Galliano over their entire Jewish
student body. It shows they value him over their
students' respect, peace of mind, and heritage.
• The Fashion Spot points out that it is a bit odd,
considering the history of the New School's
University in Exile, which was "a graduate
division founded in 1933 as a haven for Jewish
academics and writers fleeing the Nazi regime.”

22. The Parson’s Incident
• May 7, 2013- Workshop cancelled
• “It was a condition of our agreeing to host Mr.
Galliano that we also hold a larger forum,
which would include a frank discussion of his
career. Ultimately, an agreement could not be
reached with Mr. Galliano regarding the details
of that forum, and so the program will not
move forward.”

23. References
• http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/ho
t-shots/2013/04/22/john-galliano-to-teach-
parsons-workshop.html)
• http://ny.racked.com/archives/2013/04/25/stud
ents_petition_john_gallianos_new_teaching_gi
g_at_parsons.php
• http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/05/gallianos-
parsons-workshop-abruptly-canceled.html

24. Sidney Toledano
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• In 1993, invited by Bernard Arnault to join
Christian Dior Couture, in order to develop
the leather.
• In 1998 he became the President and CEO
and is now CEO of the Christian Dior Group
CEO John Galliano France and President of
the company Fendi .
• His father is the former industrial and
President of the Jewish Community of
Casablanca.

25. Bernard Arnault
Group Managing Director
• CEO of LVMH
• In 1984, with the help of Antoine Bernheim, a
senior partner of Lazard Frères et Cie., Bernard
Arnault acquired the Financière Agache, a luxury
goods company.
• He became the CEO of Financière Agache, and
therefore took control of Boussac, a textile
company in turmoil.
• Boussac owned Christian Dior, the department
store Le Bon Marché, the retail shop Conforama
and the diapers industrial Peaudouce.
• Bernard Arnault sold nearly all the company's
assets, keeping only the prestigious Christian Dior
brand, and Le Bon Marché department store.

26. Has DIOR brand architecture influenced the crisis
communication in the Galliano case?

27. “The brand revolves around certain core values which are never
compromised for augmenting sales or achieving better brand mileage.
The Dior core values underline the continued performance and appreciation
for its quality and content at the highest levels and thus the luxury brand is a
mega success today.”

28. • Toledano did not have much direct contact with
Galliano, “Sometimes, yes, it bothers me,
because I want to be sure of things.” He adds, “I
understand his genius but I still don’t know him
personally.”
• Towards the end of Galliano’s reign at Dior it was
impossible for Bernard and Toledo to talk to John
Galliano. He wouldn’t listen to anyone.
• Sidney Toledano had been concerned with
Galliano’s drug and alcohol problem in recent
years leading up to the scandal.
• They had staged many interventions and
warnings towards Galliano’s dependency, along
with absences from work, “There were concerns,
and we warned him officially. I’ve talked to the
lawyers for years.”

29. "What has happened over the last week has been
a terrible and wrenching ordeal for us all. It has
been deeply painful to see the Dior name
associated with the disgraceful statements
attributed to its designer - however brilliant he
may be. Such statements are intolerable because
of our collective duty to never forget the
Holocaust and its victims, and because of the
respect for human dignity that is owed to each
person and to all its peoples.”
• Toledano explained that Galliano's conduct
had hit people at Dior particularly hard as
Christian Dior's own sister had been
imprisoned in Buchenwald, one of the Nazi's
infamous death camps.
• He went on to say that the values of Christian
Dior, who created the Dior label just after the
war, in 1947, are still being propagated today
by a diverse and talented team working to
create Dior fashion and haute couture.

30. • Sidney was surprised revenues actually increased
after Galliano’s dismissal.
• But Toledano concedes, perhaps with the label's
new - much less outwardly exuberant - creative
director Raf Simons in mind, that not all designers
have to be the face of the brand.
• "If it works for the designer, then fine," he told the
Financial Times, "and if it feels natural. But if not,
it can be counterproductive, and it is better to avoid
it. In the end, luxury is judged not by whether a
designer's face is on X number of posters, but by
their work."

31. "I always thought we absolutely needed an artistic director. Their image and
charisma, are what create breakthroughs. But you make choices about how you
use that… The role of artistic director for a lifestyle brand - one that implies all
the aspects of life such as vacation, sports, and so on - is different from the role
of artistic director in a luxury brand. They are a shorthand to help consumers
understand the brand, and to embody it.”

32. "I'm sorry, but designers are not artists. They may have the talent of one, but
if they want to work in that way they should paint or sculpt. Here they're
working in business and they need a brief. That's what my father does so
well. I've witnessed him do it countless times and I'm really inspired by
that," he said, before explaining that in the lead up to Galliano's disastrous
drunken rant, the communication between his father and the designer had
broken down completely.
-Antoine Arnault

33. “Star designers can come and go.
A good product,” Arnault says, “Can last forever.”