Luxury fashion designer John Galliano pays the price, once again, for the antisemitic and racist outbursts that led to his ouster from Christian Dior more than a decade ago.
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Monday that it will no longer move forward with “John Galliano: Horizons,” the retrospective exhibit set to be at the center of the annual, star-studded Met Gala in 2027. The Met Gala is overseen by fashion luminary Anna Wintour.
“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,” Galliano, 65, said in a news release. The designer also referenced the controversies that upended his professional career and earned him a criminal record in Paris.
Galliano faced backlash in 2010 and 2011 for two separate incidents in which he made antisemitic and anti-Asian comments. In 2011, the designer was convicted in Paris for his antisemitic comments, leaving him with a criminal record. The court declared at the time that it believed the designer, who has spoken about his struggles with addiction, was “generally, neither racist nor anti-Semitic and did not deserve a prison term.”
The Met officially pulled the plug on the Galliano exhibit exactly a month after unveiling “John Galliano: Horizons” in July. In a news release publishedearlier this summer, the museum lauded Galliano as “one of the most inventive and influential designers of the past four decades.” The exhibit was set to celebrate the “full breadth” of Galliano’s career from his time at Givenchy and Dior to Maison Margiela where he remained until 2024, and would feature garments, archival materials, sketches and more. The exhibit would also touch upon the scandals that overshadowed Galliano’s professional life.
“Rather than presenting a conventional narrative of disgrace and redemption, the gallery will examine how memory, experience, cultural values, and historical circumstances continually reshape the reception of a designer’s work,” the Museum said at the time.
On Monday, Galliano said: “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.”
Among the critics who spoke out against the Met’s plans to honor Galliano were Anti-Defamation League National Director and Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt and New York City County Speaker Julie Menin. Over the weekend, Menin shared a letter to the Met voicing her concern, writing that honoring Galliano “is a serious mistake.” She said Monday she is “pleased” by the cancellation.
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