Met Postpones Galliano Retrospective, Designer Cites Past Hurt to Communities

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, together with John Galliano, announced that the Spring 2027 exhibition devoted to his four-decade oeuvre will not proceed as planned. The show was to feature apparel, accessories, sketches, toiles, research archives, and materials spanning Galliano's entire body of work, beginning with his "Les Incroyables" graduation collection from Central Saint Martins in 1984, continuing through his tenures at the Parisian couture houses Givenchy and Dior, and concluding with his final presentation for Maison Margiela.

The retrospective would have marked only the third exhibition devoted to a living designer at the Costume Institute, joining previous shows honoring Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo in 2017.

When the exhibition was first announced on July 31, 2026, reactions were divided. While Galliano's work is held in exceptionally high regard within fashion circles, generating significant enthusiasm among industry professionals, the proposal encountered resistance from local political figures and community leaders.

In a statement, Galliano expressed his feelings about the decision: "I am profoundly grateful to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and particularly to Max Hollein, Andrew Bolton, and Anna Wintour, for the extraordinary honour of proposing an exhibition devoted to my work. To have my creative journey considered by an institution that I have admired throughout my life moved me more deeply than I can express. I will remain forever grateful for the confidence, care and scholarship that Max, Andrew, Anna and the entire Met team brought to this project."

He elaborated further, stating: "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. 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. I understand that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture. It is a continuing responsibility, demonstrated through listening, learning and one's conduct over time."

The designer continued with additional remarks: "I do not want the debate surrounding me to place The Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute. I also recognize and respect that an exhibition honouring my work would be painful for some. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who have guided, supported and accompanied me throughout these fifteen years of sobriety and recovery from alcoholism and addiction. Your wisdom, patience and humanity have helped me more than I can ever adequately express. I remain profoundly indebted to you for giving me, as you promised, a life better than I could ever have dreamt of. My gratitude to the Met, Max, Andrew and Anna remains profound and enduring. Their generosity, humanity and belief in the importance of fashion as art, culture and history, as well as their understanding of human fragility and the possibility of growth, will remain with me always."

Max Hollein, who serves as Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offered the following comment: "Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition."

Anna Wintour issued her own statement regarding the development: "John's decision to ask the Museum to postpone the exhibition devoted to his work is very courageous and a measure of the man he is. I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support. His soaring imagination, fed by a lifetime of curiosity and research, is matched by his exceptional craft. Cut, fit, the evocative line of a bias-cut dress, color—he's a master of it all. Without one or the other, if his technique wasn't equal to his storytelling talents, he wouldn't be the premiere couturier of his generation. But he most certainly is. From the staged-on-a-shoestring feat that was his Fall 1994 show at the Sao Schlumberger Hotel Particulier in Paris to his tour de force swansong at Maison Margiela Artisanal for Spring 2024, Galliano gave fashion its most marvelous shows. The way that Christian Dior called Cristobal Balenciaga "the master of us all," a generation of designers have looked to Galliano as the greatest. His impact reverberates across generations, not least of all with Dior's current creative director Jonathan Anderson, who calls Galliano one of his heroes."

The museum has indicated that details concerning an alternative Spring exhibition for the Costume Institute and particulars regarding the 2027 Met Gala will be disclosed at a future time.