Why the 2027 Met Gala is already causing controversy

The 2027 Met Gala is already causing controversy.

The event will feature John Galliano, who is known for his theatrical and dramatic designs. But Galliano's legacy is also marked by antisemitic and racist comments, which led to his dismissal from Christian Dior in 2011 and a hate crime conviction in France. He was not given prison time.

Galliano has publicly apologized. He has said he was under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs at the time.

"The fashion industry — they keep their own, and he is one of their own," Lauren Sherman, a CBS News fashion contributor and Puck fashion correspondent, said on "CBS Mornings" Monday. "There was forgiveness a long time ago in fashion."

About 10 years ago, Anna Wintour, then-editor-in-chief of Vogue, "really worked hard to give Galliano a second chance in the fashion industry," Sherman explained. "She got him a job at Maison Margiela."

A documentary in 2024, "High & Low - John Galliano," outlined Galliano's rise, fall and rehabilitation. 

Galliano's impact on fashion

Galliano was the designer of Christian Dior for about 15 years.

"He sort of was integral to the change and the transformation of the fashion industry, and he was also one of the final designers to sort of do innovative fashion," Sherman said. "The '90s was sort of the last time we saw anything new."

Galliano and Alexander McQueen, the late British designer who was the subject of a previous Met Gala, were the last two big designers to change the way we dress, she said. 

The exhibit next year, titled "John Galliano: Horizons," will be only the third time a living designer is the subject of a solo show at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is set to explore both Galliano's creative accomplishments and controversies.

"John Galliano's tribulations and everything that he has gone through has to be a part of this exhibit because that is a part of his body of work in some ways," Sherman said. 

But his controversies may not be the focus the night of the gala, she said. 

"I can imagine a world where that night, no one really talks about any of this stuff. Maybe there will be — it will be addressed in some ways by Jewish leaders who maybe end up attending the gala. We'll see," she said. 

Galliano and Wintour met with influential rabbis and Jewish leaders in New York City in May about the exhibit and gala, The New York Times reported.  

In a statement, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said in part that the exhibit will "directly address the rupture caused by his (Galliano's) antisemitic, racist, and anti-Asian conduct in 2010 and 2011, which resulted in his dismissal from Christian Dior and his eponymous label and his conviction by a Paris court for public insults based on race, religion, ethnicity, or origin. 

"It will also consider his subsequent treatment for substance addiction and his later public acknowledgment of his actions. Rather than presenting a conventional narrative of disgrace and redemption, the gallery will examine how memory, experience, cultural values, and historical circumstances continually reshape the reception of a designer's work."