John Galliano is still working out a shared vocabulary with Maison Margiela. More and more, however, the emphasis is on Galliano’s familiar tropes — his eccentric women rather than Margiela’s studied anonymity. 

As with the latest couture collection, Artisanal, Galliano cobbled together seemingly found objects and thrift-store detritus to give the appearance of someone who’d gone through a hardscrabble stint, only to emerge victorious. Sound familiar? Colorful bangles, puffy iridescent bits, army-surplus scraps, and assorted knits were fused together in magpie fashion, with a sense of raggedy refinement and willful humor.