Met Museum explores alternatives after John Galliano exhibit cancelled

The Metropolitan Museum of Art faces a tight schedule to replace the cancelled John Galliano exhibition slated for the 2027 Met Gala, which is scheduled for the first Monday in May, nine months away. Sources say much of the work for "John Galliano: Horizons"—including concept development, research, and sourcing of archival pieces—had already been completed for a May 2027 opening.

One source noted that while the gala’s theme is usually finalized about a year in advance, themes can sometimes be planned years ahead, allowing the museum to potentially advance a future show that is already in development. However, the same source cautioned that any replacement would likely be smaller in scale due to time constraints.

Another option under discussion is to build a presentation around the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, which holds more than 35,000 items spanning five continents and seven centuries of fashion. The museum could draw from these holdings to create a thematic display.

The most drastic alternative would be to cancel the gala altogether, a move that has precedent: the event was cancelled in 2000 over curatorial disputes, during the COVID-19 lockdown, and after the September 11 attacks.

John Galliano announced on Instagram that he was withdrawing from the exhibition after criticism from civic leaders, donors, board members, and Jewish groups. He said he did not want the controversy to place the museum in a difficult position or distract from the Costume Institute’s work.

The gala had been set for May 3, 2027, which coincides with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Galliano’s past convictions for public insults based on religion, race, or ethnicity, including anti-Asian and antisemitic remarks, were referenced in the backlash. Fashion publicist Lauren London accused him of making a derogatory comment in 2019, a claim Galliano’s representatives have denied. Reports indicate that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour played a key role in advancing the original Galliano show.