Controversy swirls as 2027 Met Gala theme revealed
The theme for the 2027 Met Gala has only just been announced – but is already stirring controversy.
Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have taken a notable risk in honouring former Dior designer John Galliano, 65, for next year’s “John Galliano: Horizon” exhibit, despite his previous antisemitic remarks in 2011. Now, Anna Wintour is reportedly taking steps to ensure the theme is approved by key figures within the Jewish community.
Controversial couturier John Galliano will be honoured at the 2027 Met Gala. AP Photo/Jacques Brinon
According to the New York Times, Wintour has met with New York City’s “influential rabbis and Jewish leaders” in an effort to “get their thoughts on the potential issues with next year’s planned fashion extravaganza.”
The Times reported Galliano himself has also been involved in this process alongside Wintour and Andrew Bolton, the Met’s costume curator.
The former Dior couturier was found guilty of “public insults” based on origin, religion, race or ethnicity in late 2011.
During the incidents in question, Galliano berated a French couple outside La Perle bar in Paris’s Marais district, repeatedly insulting them with lines including “f---ing ugly Jewish b----” and “I love Hitler” while intoxicated.
According to victim Geraldine Bloch, 35, Galliano made 30 anti-Jewish insults within 45 minutes. Another woman said he made similar insults to her in the same bar in October 2010.
As a result of the remarks, he was ordered to pay just under $10,000 in fines, and was fired from his role as creative director at the prolific fashion house.
Galliano later apologised for the incident, before taking a hiatus from the fashion world and seeking rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction.
Wintour was later instrumental in orchestrating Galliano’s return to fashion in 2014 as Maison Margiela’s creative designer, and was one of the first people to wear one of his dresses publicly post-incident.
Anna Wintour is reportedly taking steps to ensure the theme is approved by key figures within the Jewish community. WireImage
In a 2024 interview with The Times, she shared her thoughts on the once-disgraced designer’s return to fashion.
“I feel quite strongly that our culture has begun to move too quickly toward condemnation – toward a feeling of certainty that particular offences or mistakes are unforgivable,” she said.
“The truth is we rarely know the full story, and all of us are fallible.”
Jewish leaders who have met with Wintour, Bolton and Galliano, including the president for Union for Reform Judaism in North America, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, have since acknowledged Galliano deserves a second chance.
Jacobs told The Times he felt Galliano’s approach to the meeting was “sincere.”
“He was open. He looked right at us and spoke in a clear way, not as if he had memorised talking points,” he said.
