Image from: John Galliano Just Designed a Collection for Zara — These Are the 5 Pieces We Want — Courtesy of Zara

Four decades of John Galliano‘s career have produced a great deal. His Dior couture still commands six figures at auction. Yet a high street collection had never appeared among those credits. That changed this morning. The couturier’s first collaboration with Zara opens a two-year partnership, and the premise behind it rewards a second look. Instead of drawing something new, Galliano went into the company’s archive. There he retrieved garments from seasons long since sold through. He then treated each one as a toile, the calico prototype that precedes a couture dress. Afterwards, those pieces returned enlarged, spliced and rebuilt in fresh materials. Steven Meisel photographed the campaign. Prices open at around thirty dollars, and the whole proposition answers to the name Re{form}.

The Collection That Takes Galliano Back to 1984

Anyone acquainted with his biography will recognize the reference at once. This first volume takes its cues from Les Incroyables and Les Merveilleuses. These young Parisians emerged from the Terror in distorted versions of aristocratic dress. Deformed bicornes and unsettling proportions became their signature. In other words, their eccentricity worked as political argument disguised as frivolity. Galliano presented his graduating collection at Central Saint Martins in 1984. It bore precisely that title and drew on precisely that episode. Indeed, it remains the work that made his name before he had a label. Forty-two years later, he reaches the same material through a Spanish retailer’s stockroom. Few careers in fashion last long enough to describe such a circuit.

What the Re{form} Collection Actually Looks Like

The register is theatrical and distinctly nocturnal. Black and burgundy anchor the palette, with navy and forest green close behind. Meanwhile, the wardrobe of film noir sits near the surface. Layering governs the construction throughout. Tulle and point d’esprit let one garment read through another. As a result, nothing conceals what lies beneath. Trompe l’oeil passages keep the eye negotiating between structure and illusion. Tailoring arrives deliberately overstated. Bustiers trail ribbons to the floor, while lace comes printed with metallic foil. Proportions expand or contract until a familiar silhouette resembles something from another century. Faux fur recurs across the collection. Georgette plumes and vinyl sleeve trims complete the vocabulary. Anyone in Paris this week can examine the results in a hôtel particulier in the Marais. There, sketchbooks and personal objects accompany the garments until October 6, by appointment.

Five pieces stand out from the rest, and they are below.