The Met Gala is once again honoring a boundary-breaking fashion designer with its annual theme — but the subject for the 2027 event is proving controversial.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that the Costume Institute's spring exhibition next year will be titled “John Galliano: Horizon,” recognizing the work of the British designer, who is widely considered to be one of the most influential — and polarizing — tastemakers of the past four decades.

Galliano, who was temporarily exiled from the industry in 2011 after his antisemitic and racist comments surfaced, will be the subject of the Costume Institute's annual exhibit and the accompanying red carpet extravaganza, one of the biggest nights on the fashion calendar.

The event will celebrate Galliano’s work, with many celebrities expected to wear his archival designs or interpretations of his most famous looks.

This makes Galliano the third living designer to be chosen as the focus of the exhibit: the first was Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and the second was Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2017.

Galliano became a polarizing figure in the fashion world in 2011 when his racist comments surfaced, including a video taken at a Paris restaurant in which he used antisemitic insults at other customers.

The designer was convicted of committing public insults based on race and religion from two incidents in Paris and faced a fine equivalent to $8,500. He subsequently lost his prestigious position as creative director at Dior after a 14-year tenure.

During his trial, Galliano testified that he didn’t remember one of his outbursts at a Paris cafe due to a triple addiction to sleeping pills, Valium and alcohol.

“I have an addiction. I am currently seeking treatment,” he told the courtroom at the time.

The designer, now 65, started his career at Givenchy in 1995 before he became creative director of Dior from 1997 to 2011, where he amped up romanticism and anti-minimalist silhouettes. His looks became the most sought-after for red carpet appearances, and Galliano designed Princess Diana’s Met Gala dress, a lace-trimmed Dior slip, which she wore to the event in 1996.

In 2014, three years after his antisemitic comments surfaced, he was made the creative director of the Parisian fashion house Maison Margiela. He remained in that post until 2024.

Today, his designs are still present on virtually every red carpet. Stevie Nicks wore a custom look designed by John Galliano for Zara at the 2026 Met Gala. For the 2024 event, Zendaya wore a custom Galliano for Margiela look, which was inspired by his 1996 Dior collection.

A 2024 documentary by Kevin Macdonald explored the designer’s redemption as he spent time in rehabilitation for alcohol addiction and met prominent Jewish leaders to seek forgiveness.

Speaking about the footage and two attacks during the documentary, Galliano, who was born in the British territory Gibraltar, said: “It was a disgusting thing, foul thing that I did. It was just horrific.”

Reflecting on the events, the designer added: “I can say I’m not racist, but every day you actually learn that all of us are a bit. But we just need to unlearn it and like immigrants. I am one. I was one.”

The New York Times has reported that Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editorial director and Met Gala Chair, Galliano and the Costume Institute's curator Andrew Bolton underwent talks with “influential rabbis and Jewish leaders” in New York City “to get their thoughts on the potential issues” with the theme and exhibit dedicated to his work.

The Times article includes comments from the Jewish leaders who had met with Galliano. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism in North America, told the outlet he had been impressed by Galliano in the meetings.

“The word I come back to is ‘sincerity,’” Jacobs said. “He was open. He looked right at us and spoke in a clear way, not as if he had memorized talking points.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, told The Times: “We believe John Galliano has genuinely worked through the issues that led to his antisemitic outburst years ago in Paris, and we have long since accepted his apology. His efforts to repair the damage his words caused and to learn from that incident should be applauded.”

The Guardian reports that a Met exhibition was originally planned for 2024 but was postponed after some board members voiced concerns.

Wintour said in a release that the exhibit will not shy away from “any of the darkness in John’s past” and that it will take into account the “full arc” of his career.

She said: “There is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale than John Galliano. His body of work — at Dior, Givenchy, Margiela, his namesake label and more — combines erudition and creativity, darkness and light, the past, the present, the future all smashing together in a brilliant way.’”