Galliano and Met Cancel 2027 Exhibition After Backlash Over Past Remarks

Fashion designer John Galliano and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art have called off a planned 2027 exhibition dedicated to the designer’s career following mounting backlash over his past antisemitic and racist remarks.

The exhibition, titled “John Galliano: Horizons,” had been scheduled to open in May 2027 alongside the annual Met Gala. The Met confirmed on Monday that the exhibition would no longer proceed as planned.

The decision came just weeks after the museum announced the retrospective, which was intended to showcase Galliano’s four-decade career through garments, accessories, sketches, archival material and other works from his time at Givenchy, Dior and Maison Margiela.

The proposed exhibition quickly attracted criticism because of Galliano’s controversial history.

In 2011, the British designer was recorded making antisemitic remarks at a Paris bar. He was subsequently dismissed as creative director of Christian Dior and convicted by a French court of making racist and antisemitic remarks. He received a suspended fine.

Galliano later apologised for his conduct and rebuilt his career, including a decade-long tenure at Maison Margiela that ended in 2024.

However, the decision to give him a major retrospective at the Met reignited criticism, particularly among Jewish leaders and other groups concerned about the museum appearing to honour someone with a history of hate speech.

The controversy intensified after it emerged that the exhibition’s planned opening would coincide with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, publicly urged the museum to reconsider. Some donors also reportedly threatened to withdraw financial support.

In a statement announcing the cancellation, Galliano expressed gratitude to the Met but acknowledged the pain caused by his past behaviour.

He said he remained accountable for the harm caused by his words, particularly to Jewish and Asian communities, and expressed regret over the controversy surrounding the planned exhibition.

Galliano also said meaningful atonement could not be achieved through an exhibition or a single public gesture, but instead required continued responsibility and demonstrated change.

Met Director and CEO Max Hollein said the museum and Galliano had reached the decision together after discussions about the exhibition.

Anna Wintour, a leading figure behind the Met Gala, also supported the decision, describing Galliano’s choice not to proceed with the exhibition as courageous.

The cancellation means the Met will now have to rethink its spring 2027 Costume Institute programme.

The museum said details of a new spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala will be announced at a later date.

The Galliano exhibition would have been only the third Costume Institute retrospective devoted to a living designer, following exhibitions honouring Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2017.

The controversy has consequently become a wider debate about artistic recognition, rehabilitation and whether institutions should honour artists and designers whose past conduct remains deeply controversial.

For Galliano, the decision represents another major reckoning with a scandal that transformed his career more than a decade ago.

For the Met, it is a high-profile reminder of the challenges cultural institutions face when balancing artistic legacy with questions of accountability and public responsibility.