Met Gala 2027 to honor John Galliano, reigniting debate over his antisemitic past

The announcement

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open a major exhibition on John Galliano in May 2027, titled "John Galliano: Horizon." The show, running through 9 January 2028, will survey four decades of the British designer's work and will be launched with the annual Met Gala red carpet fundraiser. Galliano becomes only the third living designer to receive a solo Costume Institute exhibition, following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017.

Anna Wintour, Vogue's global editorial director and a Met trustee, said the exhibition will not avoid the designer's past.

The exhibition won't shy away from any of the darkness in John's past. It's part of what has shaped him. The show will take in the full arc of his career and grapple with all of it.

A controversial choice

Galliano was convicted in 2011 of public insults based on race and religion after a video showed him, intoxicated, telling patrons in a Paris bar that he loved Hitler and that they would have been gassed. He was fined the equivalent of $8,500 and dismissed from his role as creative director of Dior, a post he had held since 1997. The designer later testified that he did not remember the outburst due to an addiction to sleeping pills, Valium and alcohol, and he entered rehabilitation.

The decision to honor him now has drawn sharp criticism, particularly from commentators who note that antisemitic hate crimes are rising. In New York City alone, 178 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first half of 2026, representing 55 percent of all confirmed hate crimes, according to DIE WELT.

The museum's response

Before the announcement, the Met convened meetings between Wintour, curator Andrew Bolton, Galliano, and prominent Jewish leaders, including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and rabbis from major New York synagogues. Bolton acknowledged the difficult timing.

I completely understand why the timing might feel particularly difficult now, given the alarming rise of hate, but I do feel it makes the current questions more urgent -- not less.

Greenblatt said the ADL had long accepted Galliano's apology and that his efforts to repair the damage "should be applauded." Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he was struck by Galliano's sincerity during a meeting in May.

The word I come back to is 'sincerity.' He was open. He looked right at us and spoke in a clear way, not as if he had memorized talking points.

Reactions across fashion and media

Not everyone is convinced. Author Dana Thomas, who chronicled Galliano's rise and fall, said the fashion business "has a short memory" and is "remarkably forgiving of bad behaviours." DIE WELT called the exhibition "the most wrong cultural coronation imaginable," arguing that a cultural milieu that demanded public anti-racism pledges after George Floyd's death is now selectively forgiving antisemitism.

Others welcomed the focus on a living artist. Olya Kuryshchuk, founder of 1 Granary, described it as "refreshing" and said Galliano "fundamentally changed the way fashion communicates emotion, fantasy and storytelling."

Galliano's path back

After his conviction, Galliano spent time in rehabilitation and met with Jewish leaders. In 2014 he was appointed creative director of Maison Margiela, a role he held for a decade. In March 2026 he began a two-year creative partnership with Zara, with the first collection due in September. His designs remain fixtures on red carpets; Stevie Nicks wore a custom Galliano-for-Zara look at the 2026 Met Gala.

The 2027 gala co-chairs have not yet been named. The 2026 event was led by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Wintour under the theme "Costume Art."