Prominent fashion designer John Galliano has withdrawn from a planned solo exhibition in his honor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The designer's decision came after facing intense backlash over the museum's choice to celebrate his career.
Galliano explained his decision in a statement posted to Instagram. "After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time." Galliano wrote, "I do not want the debate surrounding me to place the Met in a difficult position or distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute." He added, "I also recognize and respect that an exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some."
Max Hollein, the Met's director, confirmed the cancellation in a statement on Monday. "Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition," he said. The cancellation comes after a growing number of donors and political figures had voiced opposition to the nine-month exhibition, which had been set to open alongside next year's Met Gala.
A French court convicted Galliano of an antisemitic hate crime in 2011 after two separate incidents in Paris in which he insulted a French couple and a bar client. In one incident, Galliano called a Jewish woman a "f**king ugly Jewish bitch," among other insults. In the other, he was filmed telling a bar client, "I love Hitler." In the same video, the then-Dior creative director added, "People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be f**king gassed and f**king dead."
Against that backdrop, a furor erupted over the museum's decision to honor him. The timing was especially fraught, given that the exhibition's planned inauguration would have coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel. Had it proceeded, the show would have made Galliano only the third living designer given a solo exhibition at the Costume Institute, the Met's fashion wing.
Because the Met Gala traditionally opens the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, the plan threatened to cast the museum as endorsing Galliano at an event widely regarded as fashion's premier glamour showcase.
The New York Times reported Friday that several Jewish leaders had spoken out against the exhibition, including Arne Glimcher, an art-world figure who threatened to remove the museum from his will; Julie Menin, the City Council speaker; and Elisha Wiesel, chairman of the Elie Wiesel Foundation.
City-owned property houses the Met alongside 38 other arts institutions, and the museum draws millions of dollars annually from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, ties that turned its Galliano decision into a political matter. Menin became the first local politician to formally oppose the exhibition, sending a letter to Met leadership late last week. Speaking to The New York Times on Sunday, the Democrat described the now-canceled show as "a gut punch to the Jewish community in our city, who are already reeling."
Among the politicians criticizing the Met's plan was also Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander from Brooklyn, who on Sunday called it "a bad mistake." He added, "This seems very straightforward to me. They should cancel the show and change the Met Gala honoree."
Alice Tisch, a prominent museum donor, joined the critics as the backlash intensified. She emailed Hollein on Friday, writing, "This exhibit bespeaks a failure of governance." She branded the planned show a "whitewash" and warned that "it is not in the museum's interest to have this perception out there, and it flies in the face of your rich curatorial history and ongoing fiscal and moral leadership."
Her influence on the museum is considerable. Tax filings show that she and her husband, Thomas Tisch, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Met between 2020 and 2024 through a foundation. Thomas's sister-in-law, Merryl, sits on the Met's board; her daughter, Jessica Tisch, serves as New York City's police commissioner.
Under Anna Wintour, Condé Nast's chief content officer and a Met trustee, the Met Gala has evolved into a celebrity-studded fundraiser, seating stars alongside billionaires at tables priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Condé Nast's footprint at the museum has expanded alongside Wintour's, with the company regularly sponsoring Costume Institute exhibitions. The Met announced last year that it would rename an 11,500-square-foot space near the Great Hall the Condé M. Nast Galleries.
Museum officials anticipated possible blowback over honoring Galliano, long a favorite of Wintour's. Ahead of committing to the show, Galliano sat down with Jewish leaders in meetings organized partly by Wintour and Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute's curator.
Those meetings left most attending Jewish leaders satisfied that Galliano had sufficiently atoned for his past remarks. Once the exhibition became public knowledge, Wintour told The New York Times, "There is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale than John Galliano." She added, "His career isn't defined by a single moment."
Not everyone agreed, however, with critics questioning the timing of honoring Galliano amid rising antisemitism. Rabbi Angela W. Buchdahl of Manhattan's Central Synagogue was invited by Wintour to join the gala's host committee, an invitation she turned down.
Micah Lasher, a New York assemblyman representing the Upper West Side who recently won the Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District, home to the museum, added his voice to the criticism Sunday. "This is not a freedom of expression issue," he said. "This is a judgment issue, and I am baffled that anyone saw this as anything other than a terrible idea that would amount to the normalization of antisemitism."
Sam Raskin, a spokesman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, issued a statement Sunday calling Galliano's past remarks "vile" and stating that "the Mamdani administration recognizes that the Met's decision to honor him has caused pain and anger among many Jewish New Yorkers." He continued, "The Met is an independent institution and its decisions — and how it responds to the many Jewish New Yorkers appalled by this choice — are ultimately its own. But independence does not mean insulation from criticism."
The Met issued its own statement Monday: "Information on a new spring Costume Institute exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala will be announced at a later date."
