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The Met’s next Costume Institute exhibition has been called off before a single celebrity could climb the steps in a theme-adjacent couture look.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and designer John Galliano announced that John Galliano: Horizons, the spring 2027 exhibition dedicated to the designer’s four-decade career, will not proceed as planned. The show had been expected to open alongside the 2027 Met Gala, which is typically held on the first Monday in May.
The exhibition was announced just last month and promised an expansive look at Galliano’s work, from his 1984 Central Saint Martins graduate collection, “Les Incroyables,” through his years at Givenchy and Dior and his final Maison Margiela Artisanal collection in 2024. It would have been only the third solo Costume Institute exhibition devoted to a living designer, after Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017.
But the news drew swift and significant criticism over Galliano’s 2011 antisemitic and racist remarks in Paris, for which he was convicted by a French court of public insults based on religion, race and ethnicity. At the time, he was fired from Dior, where he had served as creative director for 15 years. In the years since, Galliano has spoken publicly about sobriety, recovery and remorse, and returned to fashion as creative director of Maison Margiela.
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In a statement, Galliano said he had decided “with great sadness” that the exhibition should not take place at this time. He acknowledged “the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities,” adding that “meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture.”
“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,” he said.
Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO, confirmed that the decision followed discussions with Galliano. “We have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,” he said.
Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, said museums have a responsibility to confront difficult histories “with rigor, candor, and care,” while acknowledging the pain and concern the exhibition had caused. Anna Wintour, the Vogue global editorial director and Met trustee who helps oversee the gala, called Galliano’s request “very courageous” and said she supported the decision.
The Met has not yet announced what will replace Horizons, nor has it said whether the 2027 Met Gala’s usual timing will change. For now, the biggest night in fashion has a very large blank space on its calendar.