Galliano gets second chance

Three years after his excommunication from the world of haute couture, John Galliano is back - he was yesterday named creative director of the Paris couture and ready-to-wear house Martin Margiela.

Renzo Rosso, the Italian fashion tycoon who controls Margiela, said: "John Galliano is one of the greatest - a unique couturier for a house that always innovated."

Galliano, 53, was the creative brain of Christian Dior for 15 years. Many thought the drunken ravings that precipitated his departure from Dior in 2011 were too far beyond the pale ever to allow a return.