Queues at the doors of Zara stores, items sold out in minutes, resales at double the price, and videos on social media in which shoppers proudly show off their acquisitions are not exactly part of the usual experience at Amancio Ortega's house. But that is exactly what happened on October 1st. And it is not a minor anecdote: the arrival of John Galliano at Zara has altered, even if momentarily, the rules of the game in a territory much broader than that of fashion. Because Galliano is not only one of the great designers of the last decades: he is also a name loaded with symbolic capital associated with an Olympus of creation and luxury that, until not long ago, seemed incompatible with the fashion of common mortals. But what is different about this collaboration compared to the many others that, from time to time and for years, enliven –like a swallow that does not make a summer– the dimmed creativity of fast fashion chains?

Designer John Galliano, one of fashion's great icons, has announced that he is renouncing the exhibition and gala that the Metropolitan Museum of New York (Met) had prepared for him as a tribute, driven by strong public opinion questioning his anti-Semitic past. As he himself published on social media, he has decided that the exhibition will not take place "after much reflection and discussion with those involved".