This ensemble is a signature example of Galliano's New Look style. It is composed of a corselette bustier in hand-draped natural python skin that is lined in silk.
The bodice has a hook and eye closure at the center back. There are built in bust cups to support the structure of the bodice and the wearer. The other half of the ensemble is a toreador pencil skirt in a cream coloured smocked wool, Calais lace, and elastane. The skirt is intended to sit over the bodice in order to create a continuous look. There is a slit at the center back hem and the skirt has hook and eye closures at the center back waist. The design of this look foreshadows the work that Galliano will come to create for the House of Dior in the coming years.
“L’Ecole de Danse” or “Le Papillon et la Fleur” Collection. Spring/Summer 1996. Look 6.
Atelier John Galliano, Paris
Collection of Jørgen Simonsen, Paris
Naomi wore the dress in 1996 for the Vanity Fair January issue photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and styled by Andre Leon Talley and again in 2025 for the 77th Bambi Awards red carpet in Munich.
K. Taylor, Galliano: Spectacular Fashion, London/New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020, p. 115 (not illustrated)
Materials: Synthetic crepe-backed charmeuse
Measurements:
Center front length neckline to hem: 54” (excluding straps)
Center back length, neckline to hem: 58”
Waist: 26”
Hips: 32”
Bust: 31”
Brown Label with blue letters stitched on the inside of the dress, ‘John Galliano Paris’.
