About this work
In a Dior press release, John Galliano explained his 1999 collection as ‘the mood [being] surrealistic, in the way that Dalí and Cocteau understood it – witty and startling at times but always romantic’. He also cited the influence of photographers Angus McBean and Man Ray. The genderplay in the collection, which saw female models play male roles, was based on what the designer described as Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala’s ‘power play for sexual dominance’.