‘High & Low’ Director Kevin Macdonald on Making a Documentary About John Galliano, Cancel Culture and Forgiveness
variety.comBrent Lang Executive Editor John Galliano loomed large over the world of fashion throughout the 1990s and early aughts. As the creative director of Givenchy and Dior, Galliano was widely admired for his bold, barrier-pushing style and his sensual, elegant designs.
But Galliano’s career imploded after videos emerged of him in 2010 and 2011 speaking admiringly of Adolf Hitler and launching into an antisemitic and racist diatribe, shocking the patrons of a Parisian cafe.
It was, in retrospect, an early example of “cancel culture,” one that makes Galliano’s rise and fall instructive in light of the similar public reckonings that many Hollywood figures have faced in recent years.
Kevin Macdonald’s fascinating new documentary, “High & Low — John Galliano,” uses the fallen fashion icon to examine the limits of forgiveness, as well as the possibility of redemption.
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