Met's Costume Institute Pivots to 'extraORDINARY' After Galliano Exhibition Cancellation

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute is moving forward with its 2027 Met Gala and an accompanying exhibition in May, this time with a theme designed to stir little controversy. Titled "extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday," the show replaces a previously planned monographic exhibition dedicated to designer John Galliano, which the museum called off amid mounting criticism.

From Provocation to the Everyday

According to a description of the new show, "extraORDINARY" explores "how designers transform familiar garments, materials, and objects, inviting visitors to see them anew." The exhibition ranges from "jeans, T-shirts, and puffer coats to paper, plastic, and metal," and will consider "how meaning develops through use and care."

Per the New York Times, the show will feature somewhere between 200 and 230 objects, roughly a third drawn from the Costume Institute's own collection. The remainder will consist of loans or donations from fashion brands. Among the pieces will be Calvin Klein jeans worn by actress Brooke Shields and trompe l'oeil jeans designed by Matthieu Blazy for Bottega Veneta.

Max Hollein, the Met's director, said in a statement that the exhibition "reveals the rich relationship between fashion, art, and everyday experience."

The Galliano Reversal

The replacement is a notably quieter theme than the one originally planned. Galliano had earned acclaim in fashion for his bold designs before his fall from grace. In 2011 at a Paris cafe, he made antisemitic and anti-Asian comments, resulting in Dior firing him as artistic director and a French court finding him guilty of antisemitism.

Galliano later apologized and sought counseling. Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton said he and fashion editor Anna Wintour, a Met trustee and longtime Galliano supporter, involved members of the Jewish community in conceiving the exhibition. But for many the show appeared off-color, particularly because the Met Gala next year falls on Yom HaShoah, the day of Holocaust remembrance in Israel.

Behind the scenes, donors expressed discontent, according to the Times. One was reportedly Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher, who threatened to rescind a plan to donate artworks upon his death if the Met proceeded. As controversy mounted, the museum called off the exhibition.

The episode shows how donor pressure and calendar sensitivity can reshape an institution's exhibition planning before a single object is installed.

The Times labeled the affair a "public relations fiasco for Anna Wintour," who has raised more than $200 million for the Institute as the event's longtime chair. She had previously stood by the Galliano show, praising the designer as "courageous" in a statement accompanying the Met's release about the cancellation. Wintour was not quoted, or even mentioned, in the Met's release for "extraORDINARY"; the Times reported she "played no role in the selection" of the new theme.

Bolton's First Public Comments

Bolton spoke publicly for the first time since the cancellation for the Times article, saying having to shelve the show was "disappointing for everyone involved." Of the new exhibition, he said: "I wanted an exhibition that I felt had something new to say, and that I felt was relevant to different conversations. I committed myself to this really quickly because it brings up ideas of value and consumption and resourcefulness and makes us question what we overlook and what we discard."

He acknowledged that canceling the gala and the show alongside it was perhaps "the most sensible thing" to do, but chose to create a new exhibition anyway.

In a possible sign the Met is treating this show differently from past Costume Institute affairs, there was no press conference to announce "extraORDINARY," and the exhibition will not have a catalog—a departure from past shows mounted by the department.