The Metropolitan Museum of Art has cancelled its planned John Galliano: Horizons exhibition, which had been scheduled to open in May 2027 at the Costume Institute.
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The decision was announced on August 31, 2026, in a joint statement from The Met and John Galliano, bringing an abrupt end to what was set to become one of the institution’s most closely watched fashion exhibitions in recent years.
According to The Met, the exhibition will no longer proceed following discussions between Galliano and the museum. A new spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition has yet to be announced, while details surrounding the 2027 Met Gala will also follow at a later date.
The cancellation is significant given the scale of the project and the attention already surrounding Galliano’s legacy. The designer, whose career includes influential tenures at Givenchy, Dior and Maison Margiela, has long remained one of fashion’s most celebrated and controversial figures.
In his statement, Galliano expressed gratitude to The Met, its director Max Hollein, Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton and Anna Wintour, while acknowledging the controversy surrounding the planned retrospective.
He said that after further reflection and discussion, he believed it was best for the exhibition not to take place at this time.
Galliano also directly addressed the antisemitic and racist remarks that led to his dismissal from Dior in 2011, reiterating his responsibility for the harm caused and specifically referring to the Jewish and Asian communities. He emphasized that accountability could not be resolved through institutional recognition or a museum exhibition, describing it instead as an ongoing responsibility.
The designer added that he did not want debate surrounding his past to place The Met in a difficult position or overshadow the work of the Costume Institute. He also acknowledged that an exhibition honoring his career could itself be painful for some audiences.
Museum leadership echoed that position. Hollein confirmed that the decision had been reached jointly with Galliano, while Bolton said museums have a responsibility to examine difficult histories with rigor and care. Bolton also acknowledged the concern and distress generated by the proposed exhibition and said he supported the decision to cancel it.
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Wintour described Galliano’s decision as courageous and said both he and the museum had her full support.
The move leaves a major gap in The Met’s 2027 calendar. The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition traditionally anchors the annual Met Gala and becomes one of the museum’s highest-profile cultural events of the year. With John Galliano: Horizons now officially cancelled, attention turns to what The Met will choose to present in its place.
For now, the museum has offered no indication of the new exhibition theme, curator-led direction or how the change will affect the 2027 gala.
What is clear is that one of fashion’s most anticipated institutional retrospectives is no longer happening as planned, and the decision is likely to fuel a much wider debate around authorship, accountability, rehabilitation and the role museums play when confronting the legacy of complicated cultural figures.
Can’t believe the MET didn’t have the balls to stand by their decision, this is embarrassing!