Galliano On His Road To Recovery

John Galliano has been open about his road to recovery, following his now infamous outburst in a Paris café in 2011 and, as he explained this week, it is an ongoing process.

"I've learned this concept of step-by-step, day-by-day. I didn't understand the day-by-day thing. I've been so tied up with the future and what I've done yesterday. You're not living anymore; you're not in the moment," he told WWD. "Now, I really do appreciate the moment and being in the moment. That's not to say sometimes I don't go off in my head, because we all do. But I'm much more aware of that now. And I've been given the tools; I know how to deal with it. Just being able to learn that at this time in my life is amazing."

Having become an icon of extravagance during his days at Dior, he is a different man today, preferring autumn walks in the countryside and afternoon teas with those who are dearest to him, to nights out on the fashion party circuit. But, as he said, the elaborate image the world had of him, which was predominantly fuelled by his famous catwalk bows, was never his intention.

"Honestly, I started to do those little bows that then become overwhelming and became forced. The president at Dior said, 'You've got to go out there and be really confident. Imagine you're a toreador and you just killed the bull. Then you're going to inspire everyone with confidence in what you've done,'" he said. "That was former Dior president Mr François Baufame. That grew and started to become part of the creative process. Then it kind of took over a bit and that was the past. Part of - I don't want to say my comeback, because I didn't go anywhere - was that I wanted to put the focus back on the clothes. That was also an appeal of coming to Maison Margiela. It's about respect of the tradition and all of the things that matter today. I'm really happy."

His closest friends have stuck with him, including Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss - the latter of whom Galliano has a Banksy portrait of and counts as one of his most prized items: "I don't travel very far without Kate," he said. Crediting the late Oscar de la Renta, American Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, and the president of Condé Nast Publications, Jonathan Newhouse, as three of the main figures who encouraged him to put pencil to paper again after a four-year exodus, Galliano is keen at every opportunity to express his gratitude at being able to live and work again in his new-found, and highly prized, state of sobriety.

"I'm somewhere else now; I don't need that," he said when asked if he misses drinking. "But I won't say the desire or temptation ever goes away. It's a disease. The minute I thought that it would go away, I'd be in trouble. I'd have to run to a meeting. It's that daily process, it's a daily reprieve." As to how he has changed since his departure from Dior, Galliano is pragmatic.

"I've reconnected with so many things; it's a hard one to answer. It's total abstinence. It's a daily thing. I go to my meetings. I'm in a much, much better place now. Maybe you can feel it, hear it, you can see it. It's an ongoing thing. I feel much, much happier."