{"id":2125052,"date":"2026-09-02T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125052"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:17:09","slug":"media-reactions-to-john-gallianos-canceled-show-at-the-met-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125052","title":{"rendered":"Media Reactions to John Galliano\u2019s Canceled Show at the Met Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tThe canceled John Galliano exhibition at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened the media floodgates, with many commentators adding their two cents.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an op-ed for the New York Times<\/em>, fashion critic Robin Givhan commented that the \u201cexhibition should not have been canceled. Instead, the Met Gala should have been canceled.\u201d She argued that the work of museums is to face these difficult subjects and that the Galliano exhibition \u201ccould help us make sense of other contradictions in character, of how hate hides in shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGivhan added that \u201cno one has to imagine enslavers and racists being honored\u201d because they are still championed in many places. \u201cLook around. Our public squares are still filled with odes to Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Robert E. Lee and assorted other hallowed figures who degraded Black people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Galliano exhibition had faced controversy from the start, as many fixated on antisemitic and anti-Asian comments made by the British designer more than a decade ago, along with his 2011 hate crime conviction in France.<\/p>\n

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Diane von Furstenberg, John Galliano and Anna Wintour attend the 2008 CFDA\/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards.<\/span>Penske Media via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not only Galliano that\u2019s being finger pointed, however; his longtime friend and Vogue\u2019s global editorial Anna Wintour has been criticized too. In a sparse, two-sentence statement, she said that \u201cJohn\u2019s decision that the exhibition devoted to his work should not take place at this time is very courageous and a measure of the man he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor her part, Wintour has been instrumental in rebuilding Galliano\u2019s career after he was fired from Dior. She landed him a gig with Oscar de la Renta in 2013 and then, in 2014, he was appointed artistic director of Maison Margiela, where his collections were critically acclaimed. Cond\u00e9 Nast Entertainment also co-produced the documentary High & Low \u2013 John Galliano<\/em> by Kevin Macdonald in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Daily Telegraph\u2019s<\/em> head of fashion Lisa Armstrong wrote an op-ed with the headline \u201cAnna Wintour was intent on rescuing Galliano \u2013 but the Met exhibition was an awful idea.\u201d She wrote that while many \u201cJews accepted that Galliano might someday be viewed in a museum,\u201d the timing in the current political climate feels \u201cuneasy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, the Met Gala has faced much criticism. \u201cDid Ms. Wintour expect guests to arrive wearing vintage Galliano? Did she want them to show up dressed like a pirate or one of the other outlandish characters that Mr. Galliano would often portray when he took his bows as the creative director at Dior? Did she want a circus?\u201d Givhan questioned in her op-ed. She contended that this year would have been a \u201cfine year to reconsider its relationship to the so-called party of the year, which has also been a point of protest over the war in Gaza and the growing clout of America\u2019s billionaires. There surely would have been protests against Mr. Galliano, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs legacy media circulations dwindle, Wintour knows her legacy won\u2019t be magazines, and so she has been moving towards the arts. As such, the Met Gala has become Wintour\u2019s Buckingham Palace, where annually she\u2019s the savior of the arts.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the Times of London<\/em>, fashion editor Harriet Walker wrote that \u201cit seems that the word of Anna Wintour might no longer be law.\u201d She adds that when she interviewed Macdonald in 2024 about Galliano\u2019s documentary, she asked him why Wintour had decided to come to Galliano\u2019s rescue. The director replied, \u201cIt always puzzled me that she decided to expend political capital on John. Other than thinking he\u2019s really talented, what possible reason could she have for risking herself and her company?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn another opinion piece, also in the Times of London<\/em>, Aliza Licht said, as a \u201cmarketing expert who works in fashion, it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if Wintour engineered it so Galliano would take the heat rather than her. Just look at their public statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there are still many that want to see the Galliano exhibition go forward. The actor and model Hari Nef wrote in a post on X that she was reminded of the 2012 Met Gala theme and exhibition \u201cSchiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations,\u201d writing, \u201cPerhaps Galliano\u2019s design legacy is difficult to square with his past remarks,\u00a0but is it really \u2018impossible?\u2019 this could have been cool and interesting!! and yes beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/wintour-galliano.jpg?w=1024″] The canceled John Galliano exhibition at New York\u2019s Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened the media floodgates, with many commentators adding their two cents. In an op-ed for the New York Times, fashion critic Robin Givhan commented that the \u201cexhibition should not have been canceled. Instead, the Met Gala should have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2125052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}