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A Feel For Fashion: Stephen Galloway

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Stephen Galloway is a creative movement director and consultant whose influence runs seamlessly between performance, fashion, music and image-making. Best known for a 25-year career in ballet and dance theatre, he came to prominence as a principal dancer with William Forsythe’s radical Ballett Frankfurt, later shaping its visual identity as head costume designer and style coordinator. That rare fluency between movement and aesthetics has made Galloway a sought-after figure across fashion and culture: he has been involved in runway shows for houses including Yves Saint Laurent, Versace and Issey Miyake, collaborated extensively with photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and contributed to some of the most influential editorial and advertising imagery of the past two decades. Beyond fashion, he has acted as creative advisor to the Rolling Stones for more than 20 years, shaping their tours, films and performances, while also pursuing music and publishing in his own right. Miley Cyrus and Galloway regularly collaborate; whether for stage or videos, his own fabulosity – chic, emboldened and oozing swagger – shines through.

Where do you look for new ideas or voices in fashion?  

New ideas are few and far between. I personally find joy and creativity in honest reinterpretations of the past, while keeping a true eye and hunger on moving forward. 

 

Who or what is generating the greatest influence in fashion today?

Technology and the disco dance of the corporate structure and celebrity. 

 

Haute Couture represents so much additional attention to the garment. It’s construction and techniques. Do you think there’s a different body language when a woman is wearing haute couture?

Yes, often it is the physical interpretation of restraint but also the understanding and perception that garment has been made-to-measure, therefore increasing one’s presence, joy and knowledge of themselves. What I love most about haute couture is the divine selfishness.

 

Do you have an industry story or experience that you have never talked about?

Yes, several. But you will have to wait ‘til my book comes out!

 

What is one haute couture memory that you will never forget?
At Gianni Versace’s last haute couture show in Paris in 1997. I went backstage and he showed me these mesh dresses that he told me he was going to make a little mesh top and skirt for the next ballet. He was costuming for us at William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt. I was so excited and could not wait! Nine days later, he was killed. 

 

Who are your fashion heroes?

Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Miles Davis, Tom Ford, Issey Miyake, Angelo Donghia.

 

What is the one reason to be optimistic about the state of fashion going forward ?

That no matter how hard we try to control it, it will always breathe a life of its own. 

 

What has been a highlight of your career so far?

Honestly, there have been too many. But in the words of our Dear Karl Lagerfeld, “The next job!”

 

What is a positive objective or goal that you would like to see the industry work towards?

Less opinion, more education. 

 

Tell us something surprising about how you got to where you are today.

That when I was 12 years old, I secretly and subconsciously started to plan/dream that I would be an integral and important person in the world of fashion. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew the steps and seeds were being planted. All I needed to do was put one foot in front of the other – as I still do today. 

 

This interview has been lightly edited. 

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