John Galliano withdraws from Met exhibition after backlash

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has cancelled a planned exhibition honouring John Galliano after backlash over the designer’s past racist and antisemitic remarks. The show had been scheduled as the May 2027 Costume Institute exhibition that would launch the annual Met Gala season.

Max Hollein, the museum’s director and chief executive, said the decision followed discussions with Galliano. “Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,” he said in a statement. The museum said it would announce a replacement exhibition later.

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Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition.

Galliano joined the statement with an apology. “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 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.”

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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 was once among fashion’s most celebrated designers and served as creative director of Christian Dior. Dior dismissed him after comments from 2010 and 2011 became public and went viral. He was later convicted in an antisemitism trial in France. After several years of efforts to rebuild his career, he returned to fashion in 2014 at Maison Margiela, where he stayed for a decade.

The exhibition would have made Galliano only the third living designer to receive a solo show at the Met’s Costume Institute. The museum had consulted Jewish community leaders before announcing it, but criticism intensified. Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director and a longtime supporter of Galliano, oversees the Met Gala.

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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.