John Galliano withdraws from 2027 Met Gala exhibition

John Galliano has withdrawn from a planned Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition that was set to shape the 2027 Met Gala, following renewed criticism over his past racist and antisemitic conduct.

The designer and the museum announced the decision Monday after what both described as discussions about the project. The retrospective, titled John Galliano: Horizons, had been scheduled to run from May 9, 2027, through January 9, 2028.

A high-profile exhibition is canceled

The show would have made Galliano only the third living fashion designer to receive a Met retrospective, after Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017. It was also intended to provide the creative theme for the next Met Gala.

Galliano said he remained accountable for the harm caused by his earlier statements, particularly to Jewish and Asian communities. He added that an exhibition could not serve as a substitute for continued accountability and that he did not want the debate around him to overshadow the Costume Institute’s work.

Met director and CEO Max Hollein said the museum and Galliano had jointly decided not to proceed. The institution has not yet announced a replacement exhibition or a new theme for the 2027 gala.

Past conduct returned to the center of debate

The backlash focused on racist, antisemitic and anti-Asian remarks Galliano made in Paris in 2010 and 2011. A French court convicted him in 2011 over antisemitic abuse. The controversy also led to his dismissal from Christian Dior and his namesake label.

Criticism of the Met’s original plan intensified in the days before the cancellation. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin publicly urged the museum not to honor Galliano, while Jewish leaders, museum donors and cultural figures also raised objections.

The planned exhibition was expected to examine Galliano’s influential work as well as the rupture created by his conduct. Its cancellation now leaves the Costume Institute with a major gap in its 2027 schedule and gives organizers the task of rebuilding the gala’s concept on a compressed timeline.

Galliano’s decision closes the immediate dispute over whether the museum should celebrate his career, but it does not end the broader cultural question at its center: how institutions should present consequential creative work when the artist’s past behavior has caused lasting harm.