It was meant to be a triumphant rehabilitation — a four-decade career celebrated in one of the world's most prestigious museums, with the Met Gala itself as the centrepiece. Instead, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has cancelled its planned John Galliano retrospective following a fierce and sustained backlash over the designer's 2011 antisemitic and racist outburst, and Anna Wintour has found herself at the centre of the storm.

A Decision 'Measure of the Man'

The exhibition, titled "John Galliano: Horizons", was announced on 31 July 2026 and scheduled to open in May 2027. It was to examine Galliano's four-decade career — spanning stints at Givenchy, Christian Dior and Maison Margiela — and would have made him only the third living designer to receive a solo exhibition at the Costume Institute. The corresponding Met Gala was set for 3 May 2027, a date that drew particular criticism as it falls on Yom HaShoah, Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Galliano announced his withdrawal on Monday, with The Met confirming the retrospective would not proceed. In a statement posted to his Instagram, he wrote: "After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time."

"I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it."

Wintour, who has chaired the Met Gala since 1995 and serves as a Met trustee, swiftly posted her own statement to the gala's official website. "John's decision that the exhibition devoted to his work should not take place at this time is very courageous and a measure of the man he is," she wrote. "I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support."

Pressure from All Sides

The backlash following the July announcement was swift and came from multiple directions. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, whose mother survived the Holocaust, repeatedly called on the museum to reconsider, describing the decision to honour Galliano amid rising antisemitism as a "gut punch to the Jewish community". Alice Tisch, a major Met donor, went further, labelling the proposed exhibition a "whitewash" and "a failure of governance".

Man in black tuxedo with boutonniere and woman in floral top seated at gala dinner table.

Galliano was dismissed as Dior's creative director in 2011 after videos emerged of him making antisemitic and racist remarks at a Paris bar. A French court subsequently found him guilty of making public insults on the basis of race and religion. He entered rehabilitation, took a hiatus from the industry, and returned in 2014 as creative director of Maison Margiela.

Ahead of the now-cancelled retrospective being announced, Galliano and Wintour had reportedly met with several influential rabbis and Jewish leaders in New York. Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, noted that "ADL accepted John Galliano's apology long ago, and believes he has genuinely reckoned with his past antisemitism," but added pointedly: "Timing matters. Antisemitism is surging ... and Jewish New Yorkers are feeling unheard by their city's leaders."

Questions Over Wintour's Judgement

While Wintour's public support for Galliano has been unwavering throughout, her handling of the affair has not gone unquestioned internally. A Condé Nast insider told Page Six that staffers were allegedly "whispering behind her back" and had raised concerns about Galliano being honoured — concerns they felt unable to voice openly.

"People are afraid of losing their jobs, so nobody wants to be the person who stands up and says, 'This is a bad idea.'"

Wintour had previously defended her backing of Galliano to the New York Times, stating that his career was not "defined by a single moment" and that "there was no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale."

A man in a black tuxedo and bow tie stands in an elegant corridor with gold geometric latticed walls and warm lighting.

Galliano himself was careful, in his withdrawal statement, to contextualise the decision on his own terms. "Meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture," he wrote. "It is a continuing responsibility, demonstrated through listening, learning and one's conduct over time." He also said he did not wish the debate surrounding him to "place The Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute."

The Met confirmed that information about a new spring Costume Institute exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala theme would be announced at a later date.