New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) has pulled the plug on its planned 2027 exhibition celebrating fashion designer John Galliano, following intense backlash over his alleged past racist remarks.
The Costume Institute exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, was due to open in May 2027 alongside the annual Met Gala. The museum and Galliano announced on August 31 that the project would not proceed as planned. The Met said it would announce a replacement exhibition and details of the 2027 gala later.
The exhibition was set to explore more than four decades of Galliano’s career, including his work at Givenchy, Christian Dior and Maison Margiela.
It was billed as a major retrospective of one of fashion’s most influential designers, and would have been only the third Costume Institute exhibition dedicated to a living designer. But the plans quickly became controversial.
Galliano’s career was rocked in 2011 after he was filmed making racist and antisemitic remarks in Paris. He was later convicted by a French court of making public racist comments.
Although the designer apologised and eventually returned to the fashion industry, the planned Met retrospective reignited debate over whether one of the world’s leading cultural institutions should celebrate his creative legacy.
Critics also raised concerns about the timing of the proposed exhibition and gala, which were expected to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Galliano said he had reflected on the concerns surrounding the exhibition and supported the decision to cancel it. The designer said the move came from respect for communities affected by his past actions.
Met director Max Hollein and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton supported the decision, while Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, a key figure behind the Met Gala, also backed Galliano.
The cancellation does not mean the Met Gala is being scrapped. Instead, the museum will announce a new exhibition and theme for the 2027 event.
The decision marks another chapter in the long running debate over how museums and cultural institutions should handle celebrated artists and designers whose professional achievements are accompanied by serious personal controversies.
