Why the 2027 Met Gala Will No Longer Honor John Galliano

Don’t get ready for the 2027 Met Gala yet.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art had announced on July 31 that the spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition and Met Gala would honor British designer John Galliano. But on Monday, it shared that both will no longer “proceed as planned.”

The decision to re-theme was made in response to widespread criticism of Galliano’s past racist and antisemitic remarks.

“After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano said in a statement shared on social media. “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it.”

Here’s what we know so far.

Galliano no more

The Met initially announced on July 31 that the 2027 Costume Institute exhibit would celebrate Galliano’s “four-decade oeuvre,” which includes work at Givenchy, Christian Dior, and Maison Margiela.

Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute, said at the time that the Met Gala and matching exhibit would highlight “both how Galliano has remapped the world through fashion and how his conduct, its consequences, and changing cultural values have reshaped our understanding of his work.”

The announcement of the theme — selected each year by the Costume Institute curator, with sign-off from Vogue global editorial director Anna Wintour and the Metropolitan Museum of Art leadership — was immediately met with criticism, given Galliano’s history.

In 2011, Galliano was fired as creative director of Dior after a 2010 video surfaced that showed him making antisemitic remarks at a Paris bar. Months later, a French court found the designer guilty of public insults based on origin, religion, race, or ethnicity, stemming from two separate antisemitic incidents at the same bar.

Galliano said he was struggling with addiction at the time and had entered treatment. He reflected on the incident in a 2013 interview, the first after he was fired.

“It’s the worst thing I have said in my life, but I didn’t mean it,” he told Vanity Fair, adding that he directed his hatred of himself toward other people.

The New York Times reported in July that Bolton, Wintour, and Galliano met with rabbis and other Jewish leaders on multiple occasions this year to discuss the 2027 Met Gala.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism in North America, told the publication that Galliano seemed sincere in those meetings.

“He was open,” Jacobs said. “He looked right at us and spoke in a clear way, not as if he had memorized talking points.”

In an email sent to Business Insider on Tuesday, Jacobs added: “John Galliano’s decision to withdraw from the Met exhibition, with sincere acknowledgment of the pain he’s caused, reflects real accountability. I’m heartened to see this example of teshuva: stepping back once you see the divisive impact you are having is exactly what repair looks like.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Times in July that the organization “had long since accepted his apology.” On X, though, he noted that some Jewish people might not feel the same way, and said he hoped that the Costume Institute would take that into consideration.

In a message posted to X on Monday, Greenblatt said that it would be misguided to honor Galliano “at this moment.”

“Even Galliano ultimately recognized what the Met should have done from the start,” he wrote. “This was the wrong move at the wrong moment. Timing matters.”

Museum donors also expressed dismay with Galliano’s role in the 2027 ball and exhibit, including Arne Glimcher, an art dealer who said he’d remove the museum from his will if the Galliano-themed event proceeded, the Times reported on Monday.

Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, also urged the Metropolitan Museum to reconsider the theme via Instagram before the change was announced.

In his statement regarding the Met Gala, Galliano said he believes “meaningful atonement” is not achieved through a single act or apology, but through continuous listening and learning.

“I do not want the debate surrounding me to place The Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute,” he said. “I also recognize and respect that an exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some.”

The 2027 Met Gala: what happens now?

The Metropolitan Museum said it will share a new exhibition and Met Gala theme “at a later date.”

In the meantime, Wintour applauded both Galliano’s fashion career and his request to the Costume Institute.

“John’s decision to ask the Museum to postpone the exhibition devoted to his work is very courageous and a measure of the man he is,” she said in a statement shared on The Met’s website. “I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support.”

Wintour, a close friend of Galliano’s, previously helped the designer revive his reputation in 2014.

She helped him land a three-week creative residency at Oscar de la Renta, and she publicly supported him when he was appointed the creative director of Maison Margiela.

He got the latter job after having meetings with Jewish leaders, organized by Condé Nast chairman Jonathan Newhouse, and asking for forgiveness. The Anti-Defamation League also issued a 2013 press release supporting Galliano’s “recovery and redemption.”

Controversial Met Galas of the past

This isn’t the first time the Met Gala has faced public scrutiny.

In 2023, the Costume Institute was criticized for the ball’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” theme.

The late German designer was known to express offensive views throughout his career, including criticism of women with curves and same-sex couples who adopted children. A public apology from the designer was rare, though he did apologize for calling Adele “a little too fat” in 2012.

Some also said the famed 2018 theme, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination,” crossed the line and disrespected religion. Bolton consulted Catholic leaders before the event, who mostly approved of the event and even lent liturgical items. Wintour later told Stephen Colbert that she hadn’t personally heard any backlash and was proud of her work with the Vatican.

The 2027 Met Gala would have been only the third time the event honored a living designer. It celebrated Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2017 and Yves Saint Laurent in 1983.

Only time will tell whether a new designer will take Galliano’s place or if the Met Gala will go in an entirely new direction.