John Galliano

With his muscle-bound physique and runway swagger (no reticent post-show wave from backstage for this designer), John Galliano almost upstages the sensational creations he dreams up for the House of Dior and his own line. Almost. A provocateur since his French Revolution-themed graduation collection at Central Saint Martins, Galliano excels at excess. Opera divas, Masai tribesmen, medieval warrior women, Austro-Hungarian royalty, and even the homeless have stomped down the catwalk at his theatrically themed shows (often inspired by his world travels). One of the most avant-garde couturiers, Galliano has stayed true to the spirit of Dior while pushing the house well into the modern age. Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, and Nicole Kidman have worn his showstopping creations on some of the biggest nights of their lives.Born in Gibraltar in 1960, Galliano began his career in London. After launching his label there in 1984 and being named Britain's Designer of the Year in 1988, he decamped for Paris in 1991. It wasn't easy to make it in fashion's mightiest capital: He bunked on friends' floors as he struggled to get his business off the ground. But—with a little help from Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor—his breakthrough came with an all-black show staged at the artfully decaying Left Bank mansion of the socialite São Schlumberger.In 1995, LVMH placed Galliano in charge of Givenchy's haute couture and ready-to-wear lines, an unheard-of coup for a British designer at a French house. Two years later, Galliano took another lofty step up the LVMH ladder, being crowned design director at Christian Dior. In addition to his obsessive work at Dior—where he oversees ad campaigns and even window displays—Galliano continues to design his own line, producing a dozen shows all told each year and, as ever, romancing his audiences with his knock-down-drag-out showmanship and soaring imagination.