By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press Writer
PARIS – Britain’s diminutive king of fashion, John Galliano, paid homage Friday to another vertically challenged emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte of France.
For his spring-summer 2010 menswear display, Galliano — a master director whose opulent runway shows verge on theatrical performances — conjured a cast of Napoleonic characters, including the emperor himself, looking pallid but proud in flowing black- and jewel-toned sashes, and Bonaparte’s soldiers, in desert-ready military uniforms embellished with Oriental details from their North African campaigns.
Other characters that peopled Galliano’s world Friday were latter-day Middle Eastern explorers modeled on Lawrence of Arabia and proto-hippies clad in only briefs and flower crowns.
Star pieces included a pair of low rise harem shorts covered in disco ball mirrorwork, a smart, three-piece suit topped with a swath of ripped tulle — as if the model had just torn through the mother of all cobwebs — and a muscle-bound model in underwear and a leopard-skin headdress.
In a backstage interview with Associated Press Television News, Galliano listed the elements of the raucous collection, which was — as always with him — over the top: “Napoleon and his trip to Egypt … Orientalism, the colors of painters like Delacroix, the ‘homme fleur’ or mountain guy.”
Silhouettes were wildly romantic, with military-inspired coats cut amply and fitted with a layer of gauzy silk that fluttered as the models walked. Button-down shirts did double-duty, cinched around the waist in guise of cummerbunds or ingeniously wrapped around the models legs in lieu of shorts.
Applause echoed loud off the concrete walls of the abandoned, graffiti-covered swimming pool where the show was held when Galliano swooped down upon the catwalk for a final spin.
His chest puffed out in his trademark pigeon pose, Galliano was the spitting image of a modern-day Napoleon.
