John Galliano withdraws from landmark Metropolitan Museum exhibition, following controversy
After a wave of criticism, the museum announced that it has cancelled plans to proceed with a show honouring the fashion designer's work
John Galliano is out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Today, following a groundswell of public controversy, the museum announced that it has cancelled plans to proceed with a landmark Costume Institute retrospective of the British fashion designer’s work next May.
‘Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,’ Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO said in a statement.
John Galliano, shown here in 2005, was the long-time creative director of Dior before being fired in 2011 for antisemetic remarks.
The show, titled ‘John Galliano: Horizons,’ faced immediate criticism concerning the designer’s past racist and antisemetic comments. Galliano was famously ousted as the creative director of Dior following an antisemetic tirade at a Paris restaurant in 2011, for which he was charged with a hate crime in France.
Though Galliano has publicly apologised for his past behaviour, and the museum met with Jewish leaders and promised to ‘address the derogatory conduct that fundamentally altered his career and public reception,’ the exhibition announcement was met with swift backlash from New York’s Jewish community and beyond – especially at a moment when antisemitic crimes are on the rise. According to the New York Times, museum donors threatened to withdraw funding if the exhibition proceeded.
The show would have been the theme for the 2027 Met gala, one of the world's most high-profile fashion events.
The controversy ultimately compelled the museum and Galliano to change course. ‘After much reflection and discussion with 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 Instagram.
‘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,’ the designer added. ‘I also recognise and respect that an exhibition honouring my work would be painful for some.’
The Costume Institute show would have marked Galliano’s first major museum exhibition, a milestone that would anchor the museum’s glittering Met Ball. In addition to overseeing his eponymous label and Dior, the designer has served as the creative director of Givenchy and Maison Margiela. In its initial announcement, the museum called Galliano ‘one of the most inventive and influential designers of the past four decades.’
The museum has yet to announce plans for a replacement exhibition.
