'Galliano will return when he's ready' - Grace Coddington

Grace Coddington hopes John Galliano will return to the fashion industry.Photo / File

John Galliano will make a comeback "when he's ready", says US Vogue's Grace Coddington.

The designer was sacked from Christian Dior and his eponymous label last year after he was caught on camera making anti-Semitic remarks during an argument in Paris. He went to rehab to be treated for prescription medication addiction and not much has been heard of him since.

Coddington is confident there is still a place for Galliano in the industry.

"I hope he will return, but I don't know. That's a tough one to get over... I love John, I think he's brilliant. He certainly intends to come back - when he's ready," she told Huffington Post.

The Vogue creative director also spoke about her hopes for her friend Nicolas Ghesquiere, who left Balenciaga last month. She is adamant he will keep working in fashion and is looking forward to seeing what he has in store.

"He will bide his time and come back. He's too brilliant to just disappear. He's very passionate about what he does. He's not caught up in fashion and celebrity at all," she said.

Alexander Wang has taken the reins at Balenciaga, the latest in several reshuffles this year. Hedi Slimane is the new creative director of Saint Laurent and Raf Simons is heading up Dior.

Coddington is waiting to see what Wang will do at Balenciaga, but believes he has a difficult path ahead of him as "fuddy-duddy people like" her are so sad to see Ghesquiere go.

"Don't think of it as the same house as it was when Nicolas was the creative director; that's everybody's mistake. Don't think of it as a replacement for Nicolas, because it isn't. Alexander has a whole different agenda," she said.

"He's a very confident young man, he's cute-looking, girls love him, he's an It person and he makes very affordable clothes. I haven't spoken to him, but he can only do what he can do. He can't be somebody else, and he certainly can't be Nicolas."

- COVER MEDIA