Kareena Kapoor Khan is making a compelling case for fashion that comes with a history. For the Daayra press tour, the actor stepped out in a vintage John Galliano ballet-pink silk dress and jacket set from the designer’s Spring/Summer 1999 collection, styled by Rhea Kapoor and Sanya Kapoor.
The look, delicate in colour but distinctly structured in silhouette, is the kind of archival fashion moment that doesn’t announce its vintage status immediately. Instead, it reveals itself slowly, through its tailoring, proportions and the particular romanticism of Galliano’s work from the period. And that is precisely what makes it work.A Galliano from another era
The John Galliano Spring/Summer 1999 collection remains one of the more fascinating chapters in the designer’s late-1990s oeuvre. Vogue’s archive describes the collection as bringing a Lawrence Alma-Tadema painting to life, with Galliano drawing on classical imagery, historical dress and the theatricality that had become central to his runway language. The collection also referenced designers including Romeo Gigli and Mariano Fortuny, alongside the fluidity of 1930s bias-cut dressing.The particular look Kareena wears belongs to that world, a ballet-pink silk dress and jacket, its soft femininity offset by the precision of the jacket. It is romantic without being saccharine, tailored without becoming severe.
There is also a fascinating archival connection in the way the collection has been preserved. The National Gallery of Victoria houses a John Galliano dress and jacket from the Ballet Russes collection, identified as part of Spring/Summer 1999.
