The 2027 Met Gala theme is HERE! And people are… PISSED.
On Monday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute announced the theme for next year’s Met Gala will center around a controversial British fashion designer!
The official theme is “John Galliano: Horizons,” and is set to examine the designer’s work.
So, what exactly is the issue with the theme? Well, Galliano served as the head of Dior from 1996 until 2011, when he was infamously fired after footage leaked of him firing off antisemitic comments. Later that year, he was even convicted of a hate crime in Paris before heading to rehab. He eventually went on to become the creative director of Maison Margiela in 2014, where he made a home until 2024.
In anticipation of backlash to the announcement, the Met reportedly met with various Jewish leaders, according to the New York Times. Rabbi Rick Jacobs recalled speaking with Galliano:
“The fear clearly was the show could be met with a lot of resistance — not just skepticism, but a feeling of it’s wrong. The word I come back to is ‘sincerity.’ He was open. He looked right at us and spoke in a clear way, not as if he had memorized talking points.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, added:
“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.”
Anna Wintour herself defended the decision in a statement to the outlet:
“There is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale than John Galliano. Designers dream of changing the world with a single collection; John has done it over and over again. His career isn’t defined by a single moment — something he will live with for the rest of his life…the exhibition won’t shy away from any of the darkness.”
Curator Andrew Bolton went on to reveal the Met has been considering the theme for over 15 years:
“I completely understand why the timing might feel particularly difficult now, given the alarming rise of hate, but I do feel it makes the current questions more urgent — not less. For me, the larger question is not whether artistic behavior excuses transgression, but how to hold artistic achievement and ethical accountability together without allowing one to erase the other. And at a moment of heightened division, I feel the museum and myself have a real responsibility to confront these issues.”
He continued:
“Avoiding his work doesn’t remove his influence on fashion or solve the ethical questions around it. Our responsibility is neither to celebrate uncritically nor avoid that difficult history, but establish the record honestly, provide context and create the conditions for visitors to make an informed judgment.”
What are YOUR thoughts on 2027’s theme, Perezcious readers? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.
To learn more about antisemitism and how you can help fight it, check out https://www.adl.org/
[Images via MEGA/WENN]