{"id":579317,"date":"2026-08-01T20:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T20:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/579317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T20:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T20:09:11","slug":"met-gala-2027-will-honour-controversial-designer-john-galliano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/579317\/","title":{"rendered":"Met Gala 2027 will honour controversial designer John Galliano"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that its next exhibition will celebrate the career of John Galliano, whose renowned stint as the Creative Director at Dior ended after he was filmed making antisemitic and racist remarks outside a Paris cafe in 2011.<\/p>\n

John Galliano: Horizons will be on display at The Met from May 9, 2027 until January 9, 2028, and will be a career-spanning look at a figure largely regarded by the fashion industry as one of the most influential designers of the last number of decades.<\/p>\n

The exhibition will be kicked off by the annual Met Gala on 3 May, where the A-list attendees will be sure to pay homage to Galliano’s work.<\/p>\n

\"John
\nJohn Galliano at Le Grand D\u00eener du Louvre held at Mus\u00e9e du Louvre on March 04, 2025 in Paris, France.<\/p>\n

With this exhibit, Galliano becomes only the third living designer to have their work featured in a solo exhibition by the institute, after Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Gar\u00e7ons in 2017.<\/p>\n

Organised by Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, John Galliano: Horizons will feature garments, accessories, sketches, toiles, research books, and archival materials, and aims to “reveal how Galliano brings places, histories, artistic traditions, narratives, and identities into unexpected relation and transforms these encounters into imaginative garments”, the institute said in its announcement.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PARIS,
\nErin O’Connor walks the runway during the Dior Haute Couture Spring\/Summer 2004 fashion show as part of the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week<\/p>\n

The show will also examine the fallout from Galliano’s antisemitic tirade, and “will address the derogatory conduct that fundamentally altered his career and public reception”, the institute said. “In doing so, the exhibition will consider how artistic achievement should be understood alongside ethical accountability.”<\/p>\n

Galliano’s designs are renowned for their profound intricacy and expansive storytelling. In past collections he has drawn on influences such as Japanese heritage, Egyptian history, a seedy representation of 1920s Paris, and the many layers of British sartorial history, from Edwardian tailoring to military regalia.<\/p>\n

\"Model
\nModel walks Christian Dior’s Haute Couture Spring 1997 Runway collection designed by John Galliano<\/p>\n

Voluminous skirts, bias-cut gowns, lush textures, intricate patterns, opulent beading, detailed embroidery and exaggerated silhouettes are among the hallmarks of his designs, which draw inspiration from film, literature and history.<\/p>\n

His tenure at the helm of Dior, from 1996 to 2011, is widely regarded as one of the most fruitful, innovative and fantastical stints by any designer at any fashion house.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nRihanna wearing Galliano’s designs for Maison Margiela at the 2018 Met Gala<\/p>\n

He has long been a go-to designer for A-list celebrities – such as Nicole Kidman, who proved to be a muse of Galliano’s – and Kate Moss, whose 2011 wedding dress was designed by Galliano.<\/p>\n

As archival pulls have become more desirable among celebrities in recent years, his work has become even more coveted, with stars like Zendaya and Kim Kardashian dipping into the archives for especially high-profile events.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nZendaya wearing one of Galliano’s designs at the 2024 Met Gala<\/p>\n

However, for many years his has also been a career marked by a hate crime conviction<\/a> and public dismissal from the top job at Dior, after an inebriated Galliano was filmed making antisemitic and racist remarks in a Paris caf\u00e9. It was the second such incident, with another taking place in October 2010.<\/p>\n

At the time of his trial, Galliano told the court that he couldn’t remember the incident because of a “triple addiction” to alcohol, sleeping tablets and Valium.* He had undergone treatment for his addiction by the time the trial began, and pointed to stress<\/a> from his role at Dior as playing a part in his behaviour.<\/p>\n

\"John
\nJohn Galliano and models Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen and Kate Moss on 15 October 1996, France.<\/p>\n

Galliano received a suspended fine of \u20ac6,000 and was ordered to pay damages and court fees, then retreated from public life for approximately two years. In that time, he has said in interviews and in a recent documentary, he consulted with Jewish leaders, rabbis and groups like the Anti-Defamation League to make amends for his crime.<\/p>\n

For some fashion lovers, Galliano remains a deeply controversial figure. Getting the exhibition over the line has required careful consideration, organisers say.<\/p>\n

Bolton, Galliano and Vogue global editorial director Anna Wintour met with influential rabbis and leaders from the Jewish community a number of times over the past year to discuss the exhibition, Vanessa Friedman writes for the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Le<\/p>\n

In an email to the New York Times, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said: “We believe John Galliano has genuinely worked through the issues that led to his antisemitic outburst years ago in Paris, and we have long since accepted his apology. His efforts to repair the damage his words caused and to learn from that incident should be applauded.”<\/p>\n

According to the institute’s announcement, the exhibition will be organised into three “movements”: “Bearings,” “Horizons,” and “Atlas of Transformation.” In “Bearings”, there will be a “conceptual chronology” connecting Galliano’s work to broader cultural moments, where the “rupture” caused by his antisemitic and racist rant will be addressed.<\/p>\n

\n

Bolton is also considering launching an online forum to allow for greater discussion around the exhibition and the themes it will explore.<\/p>\n

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, visit https:\/\/about.rte.ie\/ie\/helplines\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that its next exhibition will celebrate the career of John Galliano, whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-579317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}