Dior Vogue Shoot Is Cats Pajamas for Hello Kitty

Designer handed a suspended sentence

(NEWSER) - He managed to escape the six months in jail he was facing, but John Galliano didn't manage to escape a guilty verdict. A Paris court today convicted the former Christian Dior designer for making "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race, or ethnicity." He was given a suspended sentence of $8,400 in fines, though he will not have to pay it, reports the AP . Galliano blamed the incidents , which he said he couldn't recall, on booze and drugs. (In related news, it looks like he still has one fan ...) More»

Company will make girl-friendly product line palatable for teen boys

(NEWSER) - Will boys really say “Hello Kitty”? The company behind the sugary-sweet product line thinks so. Japan’s Sanrio Co. says it will plaster the cuddly cat on T-shirts, bags, watches, and other products for males. “We think Hello Kitty is accepted by young men as a design statement in fashion,” a Sanrio spokesman said today. More»

Booted fashion whiz testifies today in Paris

(NEWSER) - Fashion whiz John Galliano will blame drugs and claim amnesia today at his Paris trial for an anti-Semitic tirade against a Jewish customer in a local bar. The axed Dior creative director had a "triple addiction to alcohol, Valium, and sleeping pills," his attorney told Reuters . “The combined effect of these drugs is a state of complete and utter abandon." Galliano, 50, was "baffled" when he saw video of himself last year praising Hitler and blasting invectives at a museum curator sitting next to him in the bar, said the lawyer. More»

Christian Dior insists runway show will go on

(NEWSER) - Fashion designer John Galliano has lost his job for making anti-Semitic slurs ; he may now lose his freedom as well. French prosecutors have announced that Galliano will stand trial on charges of making racist insults in public, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $31,400 fine, reports Reuters. The charges relate to two incidents, one last month and one in October of last year. More»

He's obviously going through 'a difficult time,' says Giorgio Armani

(NEWSER) - Friends tell the New York Times that former Dior designer John Galliano is entering rehab after news of his apparently drunk , anti-Semitic rants emerged. Galliano, while still denying the claims against him, says he understands "that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people" and that he "unreservedly" apologizes, the AP reports. Meanwhile, some of his colleagues are coming out of the woodwork to support him:

• Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field posted a note titled "In Praise of John Galliano" on her blog , and sent it out to 500 friends, media outlets, and other blogs. She tells Women's Wear Daily Galliano was "acting out a character": "John lives in theater. It’s theater. It’s farce. But people in fashion don’t recognize the farce in it. All of a sudden they don’t know him. But it’s OK when it’s Mel Brooks’ The Producers singing 'Springtime for Hitler.'”