The Met Gala Has a New Theme After the John Galliano Controversy

The Met Gala is taking a different approach to fashion in 2027, replacing a planned John Galliano retrospective with an exhibition exploring the creative possibilities of everyday clothing.

Announced on November 5, extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday will examine how designers transform familiar wardrobe staples and commonplace materials into extraordinary creations. From jeans and T-shirts to paper, plastic and aluminium, the exhibition will consider how seemingly ordinary objects can become expressions of creativity and craftsmanship.

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Curated by Andrew Bolton, head of the Costume Institute, alongside Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben, the exhibition will bring together more than 200 objects. Its central idea is to encourage visitors to reconsider their relationship with clothing and how personal experiences, habits and memories influence the way they dress.

The exhibition will be organised into two sections: Familiar Forms and Common Matter. The first will explore designers’ interpretations of wardrobe essentials, including T-shirts, white shirts, jeans, trench coats, biker jackets and puffer coats. The second will examine how unconventional and discarded materials, including paper, plastic and aluminium, can be transformed into wearable designs.

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Among the featured pieces are Matthieu Blazy’s trompe l’oeil leather jeans, Marc Jacobs’s 1990s Perry Ellis grunge designs and the Calvin Klein jeans famously worn by Brooke Shields. Creations by designers including Junya Watanabe and Charles James will also feature.

The presentation will open with Jun Takahashi’s Undercover Fall 2024 collection, while designs by Anrealage founder Kunihiko Morinaga will bring the exhibition to a close.

The new direction follows the cancellation of John Galliano: Horizons, a retrospective originally planned to celebrate the British designer’s four-decade career. Announced in July 2026, the exhibition was expected to showcase his work across his namesake label, Givenchy, Christian Dior and Maison Margiela.

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However, the plans attracted criticism because of Galliano’s history of antisemitic and racist remarks. In 2011, he was dismissed from his position as creative director of Christian Dior after videos emerged of him making antisemitic comments in a Paris bar. He was subsequently convicted by a French court.

On August 31, Galliano and the Metropolitan Museum of Art jointly announced that the retrospective would not proceed. In his statement, the designer acknowledged the pain caused by his past remarks, particularly to Jewish and Asian communities, and recognised the importance of personal accountability.

The 2027 Met Gala will take place on May 3, with the exhibition opening to the public on May 9 at The Met Fifth Avenue in New York. It will remain on view until January 9, 2028.

With extraORDINARY, the Costume Institute is shifting attention towards the relationship between fashion and everyday life, exploring how designers find inspiration in the familiar and give it a new identity.