Galliano hired by Paris fashion house after anti-Semitic rant brought long absence

French fashion house Maison Martin Margiela hires British national who was fired by Christian Dior in 2011 after he was filmed making anti-Semitic statements in public.

John Galliano (photo credit: REUTERS)
John Galliano
(photo credit: REUTERS)
More than two years after he was fired from French fashion house Christian Dior for an anti-Semitic tirade, star designer John Galliano is returning to the world of high fashion.
The Paris-based fashion house Maison Martin Margiela has hired Galliano to serve as its creative director, the company announced Monday.
Dior fired Galliano, a British national, in March 2011 after he was filmed making anti-Semitic statements at a Paris bar. Galliano stated his love for Adolf Hitler and told people he believed were Jewish that their mothers should have been gassed. He blamed his outbursts on addictions to drugs and alcohol.
A French court ruled in September 2011 that Galliano in several incidents had made "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity."
Renzo Rosso, whose group OTB controls Maison Martin Margiela told Women's Wear Daily on Monday that "John Galliano is one of the greatest, undisputed talents of all time — a unique, exceptional couturier for a maison that always challenged and innovated the world of fashion. I look forward to his return to create that fashion dream that only he can create and wish him to here find his new home."
JTA contributed to this report.