The Met’s plan to honor designer John Galliano puts Jewish ideas of repentance to the test

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is preparing to honor fashion designer John Galliano with a major Costume Institute exhibition next spring, a decision that has prompted unusual meetings with prominent rabbis and Jewish leaders.

The planned exhibition highlights the complex challenge facing the Met: celebrating one of fashion's most influential figures who was also responsible for a notorious scandal. Fifteen years after Galliano was fired from Dior for praising Hitler and making antisemitic slurs in a Paris café, the exhibition has become a focal point for debates on Jewish ideas of repentance, or teshuvah, and the possibility of genuine accountability alongside public redemption.

This decision arrives at a time when many Jewish communities perceive a significant increase in antisemitism, fueled by rhetoric surrounding Israel's war in Gaza that often blurs into antisemitism. The debate over Galliano's return to fashion, including a recent multi-year deal with Zara, touches upon centuries-old Jewish discussions about how to repent and when forgiveness is appropriate.

Jewish tradition, as articulated by figures from Maimonides to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, emphasizes that teshuvah is a rigorous process involving acknowledgment, repair, and transformation, not merely an apology. Crucially, forgiveness is not an entitlement for the perpetrator. Galliano's story since his 2011 downfall has involved substance abuse treatment, a statement of regret, meetings with Jewish leaders, and public discussions about confronting his own prejudice. In 2013, the Anti-Defamation League acknowledged his demonstrated "true contrition."