Dose of Glamour: The Zoolander & Dior Connection

A new teaser trailer for Zoolander 2 has been released, and after watching it, had to go back and rewatch the original…   Still glamorous, fabulous and crammed full of celebrity roles and cameos, Zoolander is such a fab film! From David Bowie to Mila Jovovich, Tyson Beckford to Alexander Skarsgard, there are an amazing number of famous models, musicians and actors in this movie. Colorful, funny, a total delight, make time to see this one again while we wait for the sequel- it absolutely holds up!

And did you realize: Mugatu seems to be based on John Galliano?

mugatuEmbed from Getty Images

Perhaps a villain being based on the designer is less surprising after his anti-semitic fall from grace- but Galliano actually did create a homeless (And mentally ill) – inspired collection for Dior in Spring 2000:

Embed from Getty Images  Embed from Getty Images

At the time, Galliano said he was inspired by the french homeless near the Seine, photographs of mentally ill people,  the Rag Balls of the 1930s in France (where socialites would dress up as hobos), and the creepy paintings of Expressionist painter Egon Schiele. This was some heavy-handed interpretation to say the least! Looks involved newsprint-printed pants- completed with newspaper-styled trains (for the complete homeless look) and straightjacket-styled dresses, mixed in with twisted ballerinas, undone ballgowns, and empty bottles and garbage for accessories. Dirty and starving-looking models walked to Madonna’s cover of American Pie.

“Children are brought up to watch Lady and the Tramp and Charlie Chaplin and The Little Rascals. I didn’t set out to make a political statement. I’m a dressmaker. But jogging around the Seine has thrown Paris into a whole different light for me…. Some of these people are like impresarios, their coats worn over their shoulder and their hats worn at a certain angle. It’s fantasic.” –Galliano

Forever pushing boundaries, Galliano tried to walk the line with this collection, but totally crossed it! While achieving critical success, he was panned by the French media, and protests were held outside Dior’s headquarters.

In comparison, Zoolander really didn’t push the satire far AT ALL! In fact, Mugatu’s Derelicte looks were much more fabulous, a neon rockstar styling of homeless inspiration, versus many of Galliano’s (which were more sad-dirty-watercolor-creepy).

See more – watch Zoolander’s Derelicte runway show here:

Then compare to Dior S/S 2000!

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