The wait is over.
The designer has unveiled Re{form} Zara Authored by the Couturier John Galliano, the first chapter of a two-year creative partnership that had everyone waiting to see what was coming next. Now, Zara has finally unveiled the collection alongside its campaign, bringing another fashion heavyweight into the picture, with Steven Meisel behind the lens. His imagery captures Galliano’s reworked world with the same sense of character and theatricality running through the collection, bringing the first volume to life through a series of portraits.
Vol. 1 09/2026 pulls from the designer’s fascination with historical characters including Les Incroyables and Les Merveilleuses, while also moving through film noir, gardening wardrobes and the theatrical silhouettes that have defined his career.
Coats, shirts, slip dresses, tailoring and accessories are cut, enlarged, shrunk, spliced and reconstructed into something entirely new. It’s essentially fashion hacking: taking pieces you already recognise and pushing them so far that their original identity starts to disappear. Galliano approaches the process like a remix, borrowing the logic of hackers and DJs to resample familiar garments into new forms and the result is exactly as chaotic, theatrical and unexpected as you’d hope.
There are oversized shirts transformed into faux-leather coats, lace dresses turned into dramatic neckpieces, jackets with pockets repositioned to change the way the body moves, and layered pieces that create the illusion of entirely different garments. Accessories get the same treatment, with the Tri-Chic bag transforming the humble bin liner into a surprisingly glamorous handbag, while shoes, hats and hosiery are pushed into equally eccentric territory.
What makes the project particularly interesting is that Galliano isn’t approaching Zara as a limitation. After leaving Maison Margiela in 2024, he has described Re{form} as the beginning of his “act three”, with the partnership set to span four collections over two years. The designer has also spoken about being impressed by Inditex’s production and sourcing capabilities, which allowed him to push the collection much further than a conventional high-street collaboration.
The first collection launches 1 October, bringing Galliano’s couture-minded approach to a much broader audience, with prices ranging from accessible everyday pieces to more elaborate designs.
PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Meisel
