The Met's 2027 Theme Is John Galliano... So... Problematic?

The Met continues with its problematic streak; this year it was the Amazon takeover, next year it’s Mr. bigoted rant, John Galliano.

After his.. I don’t want to call it a cancellation because he went to Margiela like right after that... he seemed to have bounced back quite fast.

Now the Met is honouring his legacy, which, don’t get me wrong, there is one. He was undoubtedly responsible for some of the best and most iconic looks over the last thirty years.

And if you judge him by the standards of other men working in fashion (or anywhere) back in the day, he actually comes off quite polished. But that’s not the baseline against which we want to measure things anymore.

Breaking under the immense pressure of putting out 20+ collections a year is understandable, but when that break comes with a racist rant, the conversation changes. Those thoughts, no matter what issues they were induced by, had to have come from somewhere, right?

Today, we have Matthieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson putting out banger after banger, bringing brands back into the public eye, gifting them with singular originality. And neither of them has had a similar situation happen.

The only thing we saw was Jonathan Anderson harmlessly smoking cigs by a river. But that was more iconic than appalling.

We can blame it on different times, for sure. But we don’t live in those times anymore; we live in the now. And right here, right now, should we really honour John Galliano’s legacy on such a big scale?

Should The Met really honour anyone’s legacy as they are still actively in the process of creating it?

Honouring McQueen after his untimely passing was one thing, but Galliano makes me a bit sceptical. And if you want to honour someone’s incredible mark on fashion... hm… what about Andre Leon Talley??

As a fashion lover, I am intrigued to see the looks, though. I am even more intrigued to see how some celebrities will wildly misinterpret the theme, which seems pretty straightforward, and yet, every year, they somehow manage.

Every year, the Met Gala more and more becomes a caricature of itself. We have already expressed our reservations about reporting on it, and now, with this theme, it’s getting even more ridiculous.

I will close with a fun little fact. Currently, John Galliano is proudly (idk) holding the position of creative director at Zara. And what screams couture more than Zara?

As I was writing this, I looked back at some of Galliano’s past work. And fuuuckk, the man’s obviously talented. His designs make me so desperately want to separate the art from the artist. More than that, they make me think: why do all talented men have to be so problematic?

I think we can appreciate his designs, and everything he did for the fashion industry, while remembering the man behind the work with all the good and the bad in him.

I am also pushed to remember that people can make mistakes and change, and we can give them grace. Should that apply to everything? Even racist shit? And have we actually seen his change? Hmm… No?

Giving grace is one thing, but making him the centre of the whole event- that’s a bit too forgive-and-forget for my taste.

P.S. His tiny moustache genuinely scares me. I feel like if you look at it long enough, it might create some caterpillar-shaped tear in the space-time continuum.