{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1516007"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1516007/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1516007","accessionNumber":"T.20-2025","objectType":"Shirt","titles":[{"title":"Ludic Game","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"John Galliano is one of the most significant fashion designers of the late twentieth and early twenty first century. This shirt was designed for his Autumn/Winter 1985 ‘Ludic Game' collection.\r\n\r\nJohn Galliano was born in Gibraltar in 1960 and raised in Streatham and Dulwich, south London, by his parents, a British plumber and his Spanish wife. He attended St. Anthony's School and Wilson's Grammar School in London. His career started on a high when his graduate collection, produced for his BA degree in fashion at Saint Martin’s college, was bought in its entirety by Browns, a leading London fashion boutique. From that moment onwards, despite various business and career crises, Galliano became one of London's leading names in fashion design. His career accelerated with his appointment as creative director at two top Parisian couture houses, first Givenchy in 1995 and then Christian Dior in 1996 where he remained for 15 years. During this period, Galliano and his team created some of the most celebrated fashion collections of their time. He was known for the spectacular fashion shows which heralded every new collection and transported the audience into the latest version of his imaginary fashion world.\r\n\r\nA controversial figure, Galliano was dismissed from the House of Dior following a drunken outburst in a bar in Paris where he voiced racist and anti-Semitic comments. He subsequently spent several years rehabilitating and working with members of the Jewish community to atone for his outburst. In 2014 he was appointed creative director at the House of Martin Margiela where he remained, to great acclaim, until 2024.\r\n\r\nThis shirt comes from Galliano’s third show an Autumn/Winter collection shown at The Pillar Hall in Olympia. The show’s title ‘The Ludic Game’ was based on Angela Carter’s 1984 novel Night at the Circus, set in London in 1899. “The Colonel” who runs the circus refers to his business as ‘the Ludic game’. In Galliano’s version Pearly Kings and Queens from London’s East End were juxtaposed with the English countryside and rebellious farmers. The clothes were unisex and made of expensive fabrics. The pyjama-striped cotton used for linings and for shirts such as this one, represented a country mother taking her children to school still wearing pyjamas. The short cut of the shirt and the jacket of the suit it accompanied (also in the V&A collection), referenced short ‘spencer’ jackets of the late eighteenth century. \r\n\r\nThe show was styled by Amanda Grieves who introduced Galliano to Bouke de Vries a Dutch fashion student who was studying at the Central School of Art and Design. De Vries, who had previously worked with Stephen Jones and Zandra Rhodes, made the hats for the Ludic Game collection and provided wooden clogs and traditional starched lace caps from Holland which he spray-painted green and brown. Like many who worked on the show, de Vries was paid in clothing. This shirt and the suit he wore with it (a Linton tweed, checked green wool “bird man” ensemble T.223&A-1989, also from the collection), were his payment. He has donated both to the V&A.\r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"John Galliano","id":"A2161"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES385809"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Shirt","id":"AAT212499"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"on garment label"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1985","earliest":"1985-01-01","latest":"1985-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":"Autumn/Winter collection"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Bouke de Vries ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"36.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"nape of neck to hem","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"58.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"across chest","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"77","unit":"cm","qualifier":"of sleeve","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Originally worn by donor with T.223&A-1989","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Shirt, blue, red, green and yellow stripes, designed by John Galliano for 'The Ludic Game' collection, Britian, Autumn/Winter 1985 collection","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.20-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"20","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-15","recordCreationDate":"2019-10-30","availableToBook":false}}