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Fashion designer offends Jewish community, again

Nicole Lafond Contributor
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Fashion designer John Galliano dressed like a Hasidic Jew to attend pal Oscar de la Renta’s Fashion Week show in New York yesterday, after Christian Dior fired him in 2011 for making public insults against Jews.

His outfit included a long jacket, hat and curly sidelocks, a garb that New York Jewish leaders claim was worn purposely to mock their community.

“He’s trying to embarrass people in the Jewish community and make money on clothes [while] dressed like people he has insulted,” Williamsburg community leader, Isaac Abraham told the New York Post.

After a recorded video of Galliano saying “I love Hitler!” went viral two years ago, he was fired from Dior and shunned by the fashion industry.

De la Renta invited him to work in his Midtown studio last month, offering Galliano the chance to rectify his reputation. But critics believe he’s not working hard to make things right.

“This was not very smart, unless he really wants attention,” Tobi Rubinstein Schneier, Rabbi and fashion designer, told the Post. “I’m hoping that this is not in any way a mockery through this attire.”

Galliano’s spokeswoman said the mockery accusations are not correct, but residents of the Williamsburg community are enraged.

“He just better not step in our streets or come to our synagogue,” a resident told the Post after seeing a picture of Galliano in the outfit.

Galliano intended the outfit be a form of atonement to the community, Post fashion editor, Serena French, wrote in her blog on the topic.

“This is the same fashion guru who, in 2000 … conjured up the wildly controversial “homeless collection” — a line of haute couture inspired by the French vagrants he saw while running along the banks of the Seine,” France said.

It is common for Galliano to dress in costumes according to his current state of mind, France said. He has been seen dressed in various costumes such as pirate, a silent film star, an astronaut and a tugboat captain.

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