The 2027 Met Gala is undergoing a major shift. Just one month after the Metropolitan Museum of Art confirmed that the Costume Institute's spring 2027 exhibit would focus on the career of designer John Galliano, he has announced his withdrawal from the project. In an August 31 Instagram post, Galliano said that after reflection and discussions with The Met, he decided it was best for the exhibition not to take place at this time. He acknowledged the backlash the museum faced for honoring him and reiterated his remorse over his past antisemitic and anti-Asian comments, saying he remains deeply sorry for the pain he caused. He added that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition or institutional recognition, but through ongoing responsibility and conduct over time.
Galliano, a former creative director at Christian Dior, stepped away to avoid putting The Met in a difficult position or distracting from the Costume Institute's work. He also expressed gratitude to those who supported him through fifteen years of sobriety and recovery from alcoholism and addiction. His decision comes more than a decade after a French court convicted him of a hate crime and fined him 6,000 euros for public antisemitic and anti-Asian rants in a Paris bar.
Met Gala organizer Anna Wintour called Galliano's decision "very courageous" and said it was the right one, offering her full support to both him and the museum. She praised his craftsmanship and imagination, calling him the premier couturier of his generation, and noted that his impact reaches designers like Dior's current creative director Jonathan Anderson, who considers Galliano a hero. Galliano would have been the third living designer honored with a Costume Institute exhibit, following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017. Details about the new spring exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala have not yet been announced.
Originally reported by E Online!