Forgiving or forgetting? Why the Met Gala’s choice to honour John Galliano is so controversial

The visionary designer's career retrospective has sparked debate over forgiveness, forgetfulness and fashion's highest honour.

"She thinks he's a creative genius," said Amy Odell, Anna Wintour's biographer, on the Vogue doyenne's relationship with John Galliano. "She's obsessed with him."

The debate over Galliano’s return to fashion — he recently signed a multi-year deal with the fashion brand Zara — touches on questions that Jewish tradition has wrestled with for centuries.

Why the John Galliano 2027 Met Gala theme is so controversial  USA Today

The designer was fired from Dior in 2011 after he was filmed going on an antisemitic rant at a Paris bar

Designer John Galliano is known for his theatrical and dramatic designs, but his legacy is also marked by antisemitic and racist comments.

“There is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale," Anna Wintour said.

The Costume Institute's "John Galliano: Horizons" exhibition in spring 2027 will make him only the third living designer to receive a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that John Galliano will be the subject of its landmark spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, with the annual Met Gala set to celebrate the acclaimed British designer’s influence on fashion while also confronting the controversy that reshaped his

As famous for his antisemitic rant in 2011 as he is for his fashion, Galliano would be one of only three living designers ever to receive the honor.