Celebrity Scandal!
Natalie Portman, Christian Dior, and the Anti-Semetic fashion designer?
[Mar. 2]
Natalie Portman, winner of the Oscars 2011 award for Best Actress for her role in Black Swan, is also Jewish and is the face of Christian Dior’s fragrance line, Miss Dior Cherie. She also refused to wear a Christian Dior evening gown to the red carpet ceremony where her maternity dress received an abundance of free press for the fashion designer Rodarte.
Why? Because one of Christian Dior’s lead fashion designers and creative director went on an anti-Semitic tirade that rivaled past hate speech spewed by actor Mel Gibson.
Christian Dior designer John Galliano rocked the fashion world when he was fired by Christian Dior for engaging in a drunken anti-Semitic rant in Paris, claiming that he loved Hitler, of all people. It’s not the first time Galliano has gotten carried away or gone over the top, but even his biggest fans are having a hard time with this latest slight.
Christian Dior competes with Chanel as one of the two premier fashion houses in the world.
The Hollywood Reporter reported comments about Galliano’s drunken, anti-Semitic rant and firing:
Judith Thurman, from the New Yorker: “Galliano seems to have disgraced himself (and perhaps ended his career) by delivering a drunken, anti-Semitic rant to several fellow patrons at a Paris restaurant . . . But Chanel liked Nazis, too.”
Giorgio Armani: “I’m very very sorry for him. It’s obviously a difficult time for him. I am also very sorry that they videotaped him without him knowing.”
“I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today,” Portman said in a statement. “In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way.”
The New York Times reports that Galliano has been persuaded by friends to go into rehab for alcohol problems following the drunken rant in Paris and his firing by Christian Dior. The treatment facility is still unknown, but it may be The ows in Arizona, according to friends of Galliano who spoke anonymously with the paper.
One friend continues to defend Galliano. U.S. stylist Patricia Field has come to Galliano’s defence, sending out an e-mail to 500 friends and members of the media titled “In Praise of John Galliano,” according to the New York Magazine. She later told Wwd.com, “John lives in theatre. It’s theatre. It’s farce. But people in fashion don’t recognize the farce in it.”
But Victoire de Castellane, Christian Dior’s jewelry designer, summed up the general feeling when she said: “It’s terrible and pathetic at the same time. I never knew that he had such thoughts in him. Or that he so needed help.”
The New York times also offers an unconfirmed report that the Galliano would fight his dismissal from Dior and now has retained the London lawyer Gerrard Tyrrell, of Harbottle and Lewis, who represented the model Kate Moss in 2005 when she was accused of cocaine use.