Christian Dior suspended its star fashion designer John Galliano on Friday pending an inquiry into accusations that he hurled racist remarks at a couple in a Paris bar.
About a week before Galliano was due to present Dior’s collection in Paris, police were called to a bar in the city’s trendy Marais district on Thursday evening where they found the designer doling out a drunken torrent of abuse to a couple. Galliano’s lawyer Stephane Zerbib said two complaints had been filed with police against his client for making racist or anti-Semitic comments – a crime in France – but he said Galliano “firmly and formally” denied doing so.

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.