The Met’s next fashion exhibit spotlights John Galliano, and will confront his troubled past

The next Met Gala fashion exhibit will be devoted to a designer famed for both his singular talent and the scandal that lost him one of the top posts in all of fashion: John Galliano.

The British designer was creative director at Christian Dior for nearly 15 years, the very pinnacle of the fashion world, before he made a series of antisemitic and racist comments in 2010 and 2011 that went viral, leading to his conviction in an antisemitism trial. Dropped by Dior, he spent several years involved in public and private efforts to rehabilitate.

He made a comeback in 2014 when he was hired by Paris fashion house Maison Margiela, where he remained for a decade.

Now, he’ll become only the third living designer to be the subject of a solo show at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Long a red carpet favorite for his flamboyant, even fantastical style, Galliano and his creations should make for an intensely watched carpet at next May’s Met Gala — which every year launches the spring exhibit at the Costume Institute.

Not surprisingly, the museum is taking pains to emphasize that the exhibit will not shy away from the problematic aspects of Galliano’s history.

“Alongside Galliano’s extraordinary creative accomplishments, the exhibition will address the derogatory conduct that fundamentally altered his career and public reception,” said a statement issued by the museum on Friday. “In doing so, the exhibition will consider how artistic achievement should be understood alongside ethical accountability.”

The show’s main curator, Andrew Bolton, who curates nearly all the Met’s big fashion exhibits, noted that the exhibit “considers both how Galliano has remapped the world through fashion and how his conduct, its consequences, and changing cultural values have reshaped our understanding of his work.”

Even so, organizers had to tread carefully when planning the show. Preparation included meetings with Jewish community leaders in New York to gauge their feelings, the museum said, confirming a report in The New York Times. Those meetings included Bolton, Galliano and Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor who masterminds the Met Gala every year.

The show will be organized into three parts, the museum said.

The first, “Bearings,” will “directly address the rupture caused by his antisemitic, racist, and anti-Asian conduct in 2010 and 2011, which resulted in his dismissal from Christian Dior and his eponymous label and his conviction by a Paris court for public insults based on race, religion, ethnicity, or origin,” the museum said. It will also deal with his treatment for substance addiction and later public acknowledgment of his actions.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jill Wilson | Applause

Weekly

A weekly look at what’s happening in Winnipeg’s arts and entertainment scene.

Sign up for Jill Wilson | Applause

Sign Up

I consent to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies.

I consent to CASL agreement.

The second, “Horizons,” will examine the designer’s sources of inspiration — such as history, geography, art, storytelling and performance. And the third, “Atlas of Transformation,” will focus on “Galliano’s creativity, craftsmanship, experimentation, and technical innovation,” the museum said.

The 2024 documentary “High & Low — John Galliano” suggests Galliano was overworked and abusing alcohol and drugs when he made a series of antisemitic and racist comments in 2010 and 2011. A video of him saying “I love Hitler” in a bar went viral.

The Times quoted Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, as saying of the planned show: “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.”

The show, John Galliano: Horizons, will run from May 9, 2027, through Jan. 9, 2028.