Daily Inspiration Quote by John Galliano

A complaint disguised as a rallying cry, Galliano’s line is really a thesis about power: clothes are never just clothes, and the retreat from “dressing up” signals a retreat from spectacle, hierarchy, and fantasy. Coming from a designer whose career was built on maximalism and theatrical narrative, “People just don’t do it anymore” isn’t simple nostalgia. It’s a critique of an era that treats fashion as content (a hoodie, a logo, a quick photo) rather than ritual (an outfit as armor, performance, identity).

The intent is persuasive and slightly scolding: you, the public, have gotten lazy; we, the tastemakers, must restore standards. But the subtext is more vulnerable. If dressing up fades, the designer’s role shrinks. Casualization doesn’t just change hemlines; it changes who gets to author meaning. Streetwear, normcore, and the tech-uniform minimalism of the last two decades have shifted cultural authority away from couture houses toward peers, influencers, and algorithms. “We have to change that” reads less like a democratic “we” and more like an industry “we” trying to claw back a stage.

Context matters: post-recession pragmatism, remote work, and the collapse of many formal public occasions have made “special” dressing feel either unnecessary or politically suspect, like performative luxury. Galliano’s provocation works because it’s not really about etiquette. It’s about longing for drama in public life and insisting that art can be worn, not just streamed.