John Galliano: Dressing Kylie

Title:
John Galliano: Dressing Kylie
NFSA ID
232968
Year
1991
Access fees

Kylie is a style icon, who continually inspires her fans. Whole exhibitions have been dedicated to her outfits created by world-famous designers including Jean Paul Gaultier, Stella McCartney, Dolce & Gabbana and Alexander McQueen. 

This excerpt from the live video album Live in Dublin features fashion designer John Galliano, who designed costumes for her Let’s Get to It tour in 1991.  

The sexy outfits seen here caused a stir in the UK, with Kylie going on to say they were deliberately provocative. They show how Kylie embodies what Galliano playfully refers to as ‘the joy of dressing’, and that she understands how to use the power of costume to continually reinvent herself, even relatively early in her career. 

Galliano describes Lolita (the title character of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial 1955 novel, filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1961) and Jane Fonda in the classic futuristic film Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968) as influences. 

The fashions remain striking in this clip, which deftly offers insights into the knowledge, effort, cultural references, technical expertise, attention to detail – not to mention time and money – that go into producing a live tour on this scale.

Inter-cutting the interview with hand-drawn sketches and concert footage of Kylie singing ‘Finer Feelings’ leaves fans feeling like they’ve landed a backstage pass. 

Live in Dublin was produced by Michael Baumohl and directed by Ian Hamilton. 

Notes by Beth Taylor