The 2027 Met Gala is nine months away, but the controversy is already present, and it all boils down to the theme.
This year’s theme is “John Galliano: Horizons, paying tribute to the work of John Galliano. Simple enough, right? Not exactly. Galliano had a fall from grace in 2011 after a run of antisemitic and racist moments.
Here’s how it went down: in 2011, it started with Galliano expressing a love for Hitler while dining at a restaurant in Paris. Sounds a little familiar to someone else.
Then in February of 2011, he verbally assaulted a man and a woman, which he stated was a result of rage produced by an addiction to sleeping pills, Valium, and alcohol. Following that, he called his actions “horrific” and “disgusting,” but followed that up in a documentary on himself stating, “I can say I’m not racist, but every day you actually learn that all of us are a bit. But we just need to unlearn it and like immigrants. I am one. I was one.”
For his hate crimes, Galliano was charged a fine of $8,500.
If you need to know a bit about Galliano, he got his pop at Givenchy in 1995. People notes that he took over as Dior’s creative Director from 1997 to 2011 and eventually did the same role for Maison Margiela.
When you ask the Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, he revealed, “Yet a horizon reveals not only what lies before us but also where we stand. The exhibition therefore considers both how Galliano has remapped the world through fashion and how his conduct, its consequences, and changing cultural values have reshaped our understanding of his work.”
Will be interesting to see how this all unfolds in the coming year.
