Rabanne calls Galliano, McQueen "fashion hooligans"

PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) Spanish fashion designer Paco Rabanne has criticised John Galliano and Steve McQueen, calling them ''fashion hooligans'' whose provocative designs had chased people away from Paris fashion.

''With Balmain, Balenciaga, Givenchy and others, you can once again see that vein of chic and elegance which had deserted the capital with the arrival of those fashion hooligans, Galliano and McQueen,'' he told an Intercontinental hotel magazine, referring to recent collections at those fashion houses.

''Paris was once immensely envied and copied throughout the world. But these two Anglo-Saxon designers, in fact extremely talented, subjected it to a frontal attack by cultivating a gratuitously provocative and ravaging form of anti-fashion.'' The 72-year-old Rabanne, who himself caused a stir in the 1960s with his futuristic plastic and metal dresses, said their designs were at odds with the Parisian spirit and had given Milan ''international supremacy'' in the fashion world.

''Paris has just discovered its new state of grace,'' he said.

Gibraltar-born Galliano was appointed designer at Givenchy in 1995 before switching to Christian Dior the following year.

He also has a label that bears his name.

REUTERS PDM KP0853