New Met Gala Theme Revealed After Designer John Galliano Pulled Out

Getty

US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian arrives for the 2026 Met Gala celebrating "Costume Art" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP)

Earlier this year, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute announced the theme for the 2027 Met Gala would be the work of designer John Galliano.

However, when controversy from Galliano’s past resurfaced, the institute shifted gears and scrapped those plans, with Galliano pulling out in late August.

Now, more than two months later, a new theme for next year’s Met Gala has been revealed.

An ‘extraORDINARY’ Met Gala

On Thursday, November 5, Vogue announed the theme for the 2027 gala: “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.”

The gala will celebrate a new exhibit, which will be curated by curator in charge Andrew Bolton, with assistance from Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben.

“Love jeans and t-shirts? This one’s for you,” reads Vogue’s announcement, shared via Instagram.

Per Vogue, “the exhibition will be devoted to the undersung beauty and allure of quotidian garments — think the aforementioned t-shirts and jeans, plus raincoats, sweatshirts, puffer jackets, and more. ‘It will ask visitors ‘to see the everyday anew,’ says Bolton, and come at its subject from two perspectives: First, exploring how designers have reinvented and elevated archetypal garments to runway-worthy creations and then, secondly, highlight how humble, even ‘disposable’ materials — like paper, aluminum, and plastic — are transformed into wearable art.”

According to Bolton, the goal was to create a bold new exhibition that would stand on its own merit, and wasn’t simply a replacement for the quashed Galliano project.

“It was really important to come up with an exhibition that wasn’t just a masterwork show or something that we could do a little bit more easily,” said Bolton in a statement. “That was really important to me: to come up with an idea that wasn’t a substitute. And it had to have some sort of contemporary resonance.”

Speaking with People, a source said that their “understanding” was that the new exhibition is “going to be more about the artistry and creativity of the industry” and will be “less controversial.”

“I am pleased that the Metropolitan Museum has chosen an inclusive new theme that celebrates the artistry and creativity of the fashion industry,” said New York City Council speaker Julie Menin in a statement. “The original plan to honor John Galliano, after his horrific record of antisemitism and hate, was a divisive choice and antithetical to the values of our city.”

Withdrawal Amid Controversy

On July 31, the museum announced that the spring exhibit and accompanying Met Gala theme would be titled “John Galliano: Horizons,” only the third time a living designer has been chosen as the focus of the annual exhibit (the previous two were Yves Saint Laurent in 1983, and then Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2017).

However, backlash quickly built up over a 2011 incident in which Galliano hurled racist and antisemitic insults at people in a Paris bar, after a similar incident the previous year. As The Guardian reported at the time, he was charged and found guilty of issuing “public insults” that were “based on origin, religion, race or ethnicity,” and fined approximately $8,500.

On August 31, the museum announced it was cancelling the Galliano exhibit, with the designer voluntarily withdrawing. “After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano said in a statement to Vogue. “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it.”