The Metropolitan Museum of Art will not be moving forward with their exhibit celebrating John Galliano's work for the 2027 Met Gala and Costume Institute exhibit. The institute's spring 2027 exhibit was titled John Galliano: Horizons, and meant to highlight garments, accessories, sketches, toiles, research books, and archival materials stretching across from the famed designer's lengthy and long celebrated career.
The announcement of the exhibit in July was both celebrated by some in the fashion community but swiftly criticized by others, given the former Maison Margiela creative director's past anti-semitic and anti-Asian remarks.
In a statement supporting John's decision to "postpone" the exhibit, Anna hailed it as "very courageous and a measure of the man he is."
© Getty Images"I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support. His soaring imagination, fed by a lifetime of curiosity and research, is matched by his exceptional craft. Cut, fit, the evocative line of a bias-cut dress, color — he's a master of it all."
John himself shared: "I am profoundly grateful to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and particularly to Max Hollein, Andrew Bolton, and Anna Wintour, for the extraordinary honour of proposing an exhibition devoted to my work."
"To have my creative journey considered by an institution that I have admired throughout my life moved me more deeply than I can express. I will remain forever grateful for the confidence, care and scholarship that Max, Andrew, Anna and the entire Met team brought to this project."
© Getty Images"After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time," he continued, noting: "I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it. I understand that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture. It is a continuing responsibility, demonstrated through listening, learning and one's conduct over time."
"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 emphasized. "I also recognize and respect that an exhibition honouring my work would be painful for some. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who have guided, supported and accompanied me throughout these fifteen years of sobriety and recovery from alcoholism and addiction."
In 2010, John was recorded saying anti-semitic remarks, including praise for Adolf Hitler, and during a separate 2011 incident, he again unleashed slurs against both Jewish and Asian people. He was subsequently fired from his post as creative director for Dior, and a French court convicted him of public insults constituting hate crimes in September 2011. In 2024, he stepped down from creative director of Margiela, a role he held for a decade, and presently is working on a two-year creative partnership with Zara.
© Getty Images"Your wisdom, patience and humanity have helped me more than I can ever adequately express. I remain profoundly indebted to you for giving me, as you promised, a life better than I could ever have dreamt of. My gratitude to the Met, Max, Andrew and Anna remains profound and enduring. Their generosity, humanity and belief in the importance of fashion as art, culture and history, as well as their understanding of human fragility and the possibility of growth, will remain with me always," John's statement concluded.
Further gushing about John's work, Anna added in her own statement: "Without one or the other, if his technique wasn't equal to his storytelling talents, he wouldn't be the premiere couturier of his generation. But he most certainly is. From the staged-on-a-shoestring feat that was his Fall 1994 show at the Sao Schlumberger Hotel Particulier in Paris to his tour de force swansong at Maison Margiela Artisanal for Spring 2024, Galliano gave fashion its most marvelous shows."
© Getty Images"The way that Christian Dior called Cristobal Balenciaga 'the master of us all,' a generation of designers have looked to Galliano as the greatest. His impact reverberates across generations, not least of all with Dior's current creative director Jonathan Anderson, who calls Galliano one of his heroes," she concluded.
Information on a new Spring Costume Institute exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala will be announced at a later date," Vogue said.
