Showing in an antiseptically-furnished office tower in central London, Galliano piggybacked on the end of London Collections: Men to show his first women’s wear Artisanal collection for Maison Margiela, the show literature having jettisoned the “Martin" from the studio's name. It was his first collection since his 2011 public downfall when anti-Semitic remarks he made in Paris saw him dismissed from his positions at Dior and his own eponymous brand. Following a near four-year rehabilitation, Galliano was installed as creative director of Maison Martin Margiela in October 2014 by Renzo Rosso, chair of the studio’s parent company Only the Brave). Anticipation for his debut collection for the studio has built steadily since it was announced in early December that he would show his first works for the house in London. Much of the pre-show discussion focused on whether Galliano’s exoticism and narrative-led design would be compatible with Margiela’s emphasis on deconstruction and recycling of everyday objects into couture collections. Yet a show description released by the house suggested a collection that would prove a fresh start for both designer and studio. The decision to show in London away from Paris’ couture schedule was billed as Galliano returning to his roots in the city, where he studied at Central Saint Martins, while the collection was also described as "deconstructing and constructing a new story for Margiela.” Talk of rebirth permeated the show literature. In the event, the resultant collection showed hallmarks of both Galliano and Margiela. Black trouser suits and series of red gowns lent towards Margiela’s minimalism rather than Galliano's showmanship, yet were enthused with a romance and emotion that seemed to belong to the latter. Evening dresses featuring translucent chiffon that floated around the models legs were reminiscent of Galliano’s days at Dior, while the use of bricollage elements such as seashells, plastic cars and soldiers recalled Margiela’s Artisanal’s original emphasis on everyday ephemera. A finale to the show paraded the toiles, the test garments for the final collection rendered in calico. It was a display of the unfinished, and the process behind each garment. Critical reception to the collection has thus far been largely positive, albeit somewhat guarded as to the extent of innovation on display in the collection. Below, Disegno offers a roundup of some of fashion's most influential critics’ takes on Galliano’s return. Tim Blanks – style.com "With the clarity of hindsight in the wake of his own debut for Artisanal today, it seems odd that anyone could ever have doubted that John Galliano wasn't a dream choice for Margiela. This most arcane of fashion houses called for an alchemist as much as a designer, and with Galliano, that's exactly what it got.” "There was enough beauty to satisfy the most extravagant aesthete in Galliano's fan base, but there was also an edge of the grotesque, which was true to Artisanal's wayward spirit… It would be interesting to know what, if anything, Galliano felt he had to prove with this collection. Deconstruction was always one of Margiela's central precepts, and Galliano proved himself more than a match with his own efforts, especially with a postscript that saw the models parading by in pinned-together toiles, a revelatory way to illuminate the creative processes behind the collection.”

Suzy Menkes – Vogue “With exquisite attention to detail, wild splashes of scarlet and intense decoration set against pure tailoring, John Galliano came back to the runway.” "Somehow, in the mix of oddities and remnants - presumably a nod to Martin Margiela's idea of remake-and-mend - there was a sweet elegance… there were streamlined but seductive black trouser suits. This being Galliano, many pieces had a sexual message, as a black dress, set at a cutaway angle, revealed the kind of teeny-weeny denim shorts that would accompany Kate Moss to Glastonbury. Just when we thought we had seen it all, out came elegant evening outfits with floating chiffon and shapely transparency that took the audience back to Galliano's Dior days.Without measuring how much of this show was designed as Galliano and how much for the Maison Margiela label, both were definitely present." "[Margiela’s] shows were cerebral, inventive, often brilliant - like the twin shows in white and black, in separate venues, one in the dark and the other in candlelight. Margiela's talent was never snuffed out - he just stepped away from the company after Renzo Rosso had bought it and the designer felt that he had nothing more to say. Galliano may not have so much new to say either. But what he showed in London was a powerful mix of beauty, low-level provocation and the skills he has learned over the years.”

Alexander Fury – The Independent "John Galliano, as a designer, is ingenious. His return to London emphasised that. London was the scene of Galliano’s early triumphs: his swaggeringly-confident BA graduation collection, for instance, titled Les Incroyables and inspired by French aristocratic rebels… His first outing for what seems to be the newly-renamed Maison Margiela (dropping the ‘Martin’) captured some of that exuberant energy and sense of experimentation.” "Galliano’s a revolutionary too. As finale to this show, he paraded not the same outfits again, as convention decrees, but the toiles – the 'works in progress' rendered in cotton calico. They showed the process of trial, error and experiment that resulted in each garment. Representing the work in progress, they underscored the mood of Galliano’s Margiela debut. In a sense, they also could be read as indicating Galliano’s emotional journey to this point – his trials, his errors. His toils, through toiles. Emotion is never far away from the work of John Galliano. On a more practical level, they are also the blueprints of garments, private affairs rarely if ever seen outside a couture house’s workroom. Which underlined exactly what John Galliano is good at: showing us something we have never seen before.”

Vanessa Friedman – New York Times “This wasn’t a slam-dunk debut of a new vision — not one of those moments that changes the direction of clothes, redefining a silhouette or a mood and making women sit up in recognition and think, 'That’s how I want to look now.' It wasn’t a moment that wiped the slate clean with its own power. It was, rather, more of a slow stretch; a warm-up. You can understand it. Mr. Galliano has been on the bench awhile.” "Mr. Galliano, too, took up the found-object challenge, but instead of looking outward, it seemed, he looked inward: The found objects that were transformed were the tropes of Margiela itself… not the world beyond its borders. As a result, the collection itself felt smaller. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — better, perhaps, for Mr. Galliano to tiptoe back onto stage than somersault in through a flaming hoop, given his last implosive exit — but it is a less important thing. Here’s hoping next season he takes the next step.”