Anna Wintour Debuts John Galliano's Margiela

(Left) Anna Wintour attend the British Fashion Awards. Getty Images / (Right) Dress from John Galliano’s fall 1995 collection

At last night’s British Fashion Awards, Anna Wintour was honored with the Outstanding Achievement award. The fashion crowd was buzzing — it was rumored that John Galliano, formerly excommunicated from the industry but now given a second chance as the new head designer at Maison Martin Margiela, was going to be presenting the award to Vogue’s editor-in-chief. She, after all, had been his tireless champion when he was just starting out, recommending for his position at Christian Dior back when he was just the “enfant terrible” of fashion.

The real news, came unexpectedly, in Ms. Wintour’s choice of dress: a black, silk shift dress with an oversized flower print wrapping around the bodice. It immediately brought to mind a dress from John Galliano’s fall 1995 collection, which featured a long, white, silk column dress with an oversized black print of a flower. It would make sense for her to wear Galliano, but would Anna Wintour wear vintage to such an event? Not a chance. Wintour was indeed wearing Galliano, but a “new” design, the first we’ve seen from him since the end of his reign, and perhaps a dress that hints at what’s to come at his upcoming Margiela show.

As it turns out, the answer to everyone’s question of “what will a Galliano-Margiela look like?” is the simplest answer of them all: It will look like Galliano. Old Galliano. Mid-1990s Galliano at that. (Hey, the 90’s ARE back!) He has become self-referential, which usually yields phenomenal runway results, especially when you have so many decades to pick and choose from. Everyone loves a redemption story, and I expect this one will be more show-stopping than most.