Met Gala announces new 2027 theme after backlash over John Galliano exhibit

The theme and exhibit will focus on everyday, “seemingly unremarkable” clothing like T-shirts, jeans and puffer jackets that “can inspire delight, surprise, and wonder,” according to the museum.

“The ordinary is never quite as simple as it appears. A pair of jeans, a white shirt, or a sweatshirt can hold traces of a life — the habits, memories, and attachments that make something our own,” Andrew Bolton, curator of The Costume Institute, said in a statement Thursday. “Designers work with that familiarity, revealing unexpected possibilities within forms and materials we think we already know. The exhibition invites us to discover how much imagination the everyday can hold, and how looking again might change what we value and care for.”

Each spring, the Costume Institute’s new exhibit is opened by the star-studded Met Gala.

The gala, chaired by Condé Nast chief content officer Anna Wintour, is a major fundraiser for the museum and the Costume Institute in particular.

The 2027 extraORDINARY theme was announced two months after the museum announced it would not go forward with its initial planned exhibit on Galliano.

That exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, was met with backlash when it was announced in late July because of Galliano’s history of antisemitic remarks.

Galliano was fired as the creative director of Christian Dior in 2011, and was found guilty of antisemitic behavior by a French court later that same year and sentenced to an $8,400 suspended fine for verbally abusing an English language teacher and two others in separate incidents at a restaurant in Paris.

At the time, Galliano’s lawyer said he was “relieved” by the court’s leniency — the designer did not receive prison time — adding that Galliano was “looking forward to a future of forgiveness and understanding, hopefully, and to put all of this behind him.”

In August this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art said it had made the decision not to proceed with the Galliano exhibit, in the wake of the backlash, adding that a new theme would be announced at a later date.

Galliano also released a statement at the time, saying in part, “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.”

He added, “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 honoring my work would be painful for some.”

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