Galliano's Parisian circus

And now for something completely different - a fashion show with absolutely no wearable clothes at all. What a novel idea. But then, John Galliano is king of the novel idea. In Galliano Land, no outfit is too outlandish or impractical to be paraded down a catwalk and called "fashion" - not even a vast pair of polkadot loon pants and five metres of sari fabric wound round three giant pink balloons.

For once, not sitting in the front row was a distinct advantage as Galliano had the hilarious idea of smothering all his clothes in powdered paint, which clouded the air as the models shook their widebrimmed hats and tent-like coats.

Even more hilariously, Galliano deformed the faces of the world's top models with electric blue paint and oversized glittering lips. Their own mothers wouldn't have recognised them.

To describe the ethnic dresses, puffsleeved jackets and baggy trousers in any great detail would be missing the point, as nobody will ever wear them anyway. Unless you are a member of Billy Smart's Circus, they probably wouldn't integrate very well into your wardrobe. Nor will they even be for sale. This was a collection based purely on what will make great pictures.

It was fashion as theatre, as far removed from the practicalities of modern life as only a coddled design genius can hope to be.

All designers are self-indulgent. The difference is that Galliano has the clout to ensure his every indulgence becomes a catwalk reality. His huge success at Christian Dior has brought parent company LVMH a tidy profit, which in turn seems to have bought Galliano absolute artistic freedom.

So long as those cute Dior handbags keep the tills ringing, Galliano can make his own line as batty as he wants to. His label functions as an ideas laboratory and is an exercise in pushing the definition of "fashion" to breaking point.