The theme for the Met Gala 2027 is set to honour the legacy, both good and bad, of British designer John Galliano over his four-decade career in the fashion industry, with some questioning whether such recognition is worthy given his controversial history.
The Met Gala theme for 2027 is titled “John Galliano: Horizons” and will be spearheaded by Andrew Bolton.
The exhibition is said to last from May 9, 2027, until January 9, 2028, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, following the annual gala on May 3, 2027.
Galliano will only be the third fashion designer to be celebrated while still living, with Yves Saint Laurent being the first after being recognised in the 1983 Met Gala, and the second was Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons back in 2017.
Bolton said that the exhibition will act as a “cartography” of Galliano’s ideas that pushed the fashion world beyond its limits while reshaping cultural values and how he has materialised his designs and ideas into fabrics of concepts and inspirations.
Anna Wintour, global editorial director of Vogue, admitted that the theme will also include Galliano’s “dark past” that shaped the now-celebrated fashion designer.
Galliano’s rise in the fashion world
Galliano started his career upon earning his fashion design degree from Central Saint Martins of the University of the Arts London in 1984 and launched a fashion line under his name.
His rise to fame became apparent during the mid-1990’s and landed him a position at Givenchy in 1995 as its creative director for a year.
However, the 65-year-old designer took the fashion world by storm during his tenure at Dior as a creative director between 1996 and 2011, where his works were widely considered his peak of excellence.
Galliano’s name and creativity were highly in demand by celebrities in the 90’s to early 2000’s and even had the opportunity to dress the late Princess Diana during her attendance at the 1996 Met Gala.
Other celebrities that Galliano has dressed include supermodel Naomi Campbell, Bella Hadid, Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Amal Clooney, to name a few.
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Infamous past acts
Many believed that Galliano’s abrupt end as a creative director of Dior after 14 years came after his string of controversial acts, including anti-Semitic and racist public outbursts, so much so that the British fashion designer was slapped with a fine worth USD8,500 after being found guilty of two counts of hate crimes in Paris.
In October 2010, Galliano was found guilty of insulting a 40-year-old woman in Paris, which swiftly garnered public scrutiny.
He then faced lengthy jail time in February 2011 after verbally assaulting a man in the French capital.
During his trial, the fashion designer defended himself, saying that he was under the heavy influence of sleeping pills, Valium and alcohol, adding that he could not remember the acts he committed.
Galiano has renounced his past acts in a 2024 documentary, admitting that what he had done was “disgusting, foul and horrific.”
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