Paris court with jacket, no shirt

John Galliano showed up for his anti-Semitism trial as only he would – in theatrical style.

The disgraced former Christian Dior creative director, 50, arrived Wednesday at the courthouse in Paris in a somber black jacket and vest, gray slacks and a loosely tied polka dot scarf around his neck.

His hair, often worn in braids, hung limply around his shoulders.

He declined to wear a shirt under his vest for the occasion.

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Journalists and spectators packed the court to see the famed designer, who has been absent from sight since he was fired from Dior in February following accusations that he assaulted Paris café-goers with anti-Semitic slurs and announced he "loved Hitler."

According to court documents, Galliano allegedly called Geraldine Bloch, a 35-year-old art curator at the Arab World Institute in Paris, "a dirty whore"with a "dirty Jewish face" with "revolting" eyebrows and "low-end boots and low-end thighs."

She also alleges that he called her boyfriend an "Asian bastard."

According to the Telegraph, the designer told the court that he had a "triple addiction" to Valium, Ambien and alcohol and that he remembered nothing from that fateful night.

He admitted to popping anti-depressants "like candy.""When he was in that state he had no way of knowing or remembering what he said,"his attorney, Aurelie Hamelle told Reuters. "Every witness at the cafe has said he was in an abnormal condition."

Documents from the court dossier reveal that the designer's penchant for spouting filth was all too common and that Galliano's driver knew to "calmly called a lawyer and tried to put him on the phone with Bloch to calm her down or warn her off," reported Newsweek.

Galliano told the court that he was buckling under the strain of his workload.

"At the time of the financial crash, I had two children," he said, per the Telegraph, who live Tweeted the trial. "One was Dior, the other was Galliano."

He described his desire not to lose his own line and that in order for it to survive, he had to sign "many licences" for men's wear, women's wear, clothing for kids, swimwear, perfume and more.

"The workload increased very fast," he said.Actress and Dior spokesmodel Natalie Portman shown here in December 2010 with John Galliano. After the scandal broke, Portman said she was "deeply shocked and disgusted." (Getty)

According to his attorney, he claims to remember nothing about the night in question or having ever spouted anti-Semitic insults.

Before he entered drug treatment in Arizona and Switzerland, Galliano issued a statement after the alleged incident, saying that "anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offence."

Galliano is charged with "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity" and could face up to six months in prison and €22,500 ($32,500) in fines.

Bloch, who is suing for just one Euro, told the court on Wednesday that she "didn't want this incident to create such a media storm. I just thought I had no other choice," according to the Telegraph.

His alleged habit of spouting vile hate speech while under the influence of drugs sank the designer's once-vibrant career at the chief designer at the storied House of Dior and as the designer of his own line of high-end theatrical and outlandish designs.

The verdict will not come on Wednesday but at a later date.
(nydailynews)