The Saga of John Galliano Continues: Disgraced Designer Sues Dior

John Galliano, who has kept his head down since being convicted of making anti-Semitic remarks and fired from Dior, is suing his former employers.
-Lucia Peters, BettyConfidential.com

For the past year, disgraced former Dior designer John Galliano has been keeping his head down. This is unsurprising; he was, after all, convicted last fall of making anti-Semitic remarks, fined, ousted from Dior, and stripped of his Legion of Honor. He might be getting ready to make a comeback-he was spotted lunching with Anna Wintour at the Paris Ritz during Haute Couture Fashion Week earlier in the summer-but here's an interesting development: He's apparently now taking Dior to task for… well, we don't quite know what.

According to the Telegraph, Galliano has launched an "employee/employer dispute claim" for over €15 million (close to $19 million)at the Conseil des Prud'hommes-that is, he's apparently suing Dior for a LOT of money. A Paris hearing is scheduled for February 4, 2013.

You'll recall that when the guilty verdict came in last September, Galliano was fined €4,000 (roughly $5,700) and ordered to pay two of the plaintiffs €1 as "an expression f regret." An additional €2,000 fine was suspended. This sentence was puzzling for a lot of reasons; it was much less severe than most of the world thought it was going to be. He could, for example, have ended up jailed for six months and fined €22,500, or $31,187. Hate crimes are a big deal; why the leniency? We still don't really know-and that €1 "expression of regret" continues to baffle many of us.

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And now we're baffled again, because we're not really sure what Galliano has to gain from attacking his former employers. Is he suing over the fact that they fired him after he went on two gigantic, anti-Semitic rants in public? If so, we don't really think he has much of a case; those incidents would be cause for dismissal just about anywhere for obvious reason-that is, HATE CRIMES ARE NOT OKAY. Maybe he's got some other grievance with the company, but if he does, we've got no idea what it is. This, in turn, just makes the whole thing sound crazier than it already does.

We'll see how the case develops come February. It could be an interesting sort of circus, no?

Tell us: Do you think John Galliano should be welcomed back into the spotlight? Or should he stay out of it as penance for his crimes?

Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential's associate editor.

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