When the Met announced John Galliano: Horizons as its spring 2027 exhibition — only the third solo show ever given to a living designer, after Yves Saint Laurent and Rei Kawakubo — it also announced, whether it meant to or not, that fashion has decided to fully reckon with, and forgive, its most notorious modern scandal.
Anna Wintour set the tone in her statement announcing the show, calling Galliano "no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale," pointing to his work at Dior, Givenchy, Margiela, and his own label. Notably absent from her remarks: any direct mention of what got him fired from Dior in the first place.
In February 2011, a couple at La Perle, a Paris café, accused Galliano of hurling drunken, hostile remarks at them. Police detained him; a breath test reportedly showed heavy intoxication. Another woman soon alleged a similar outburst from October 2010, at the same bar. Days later, The Sun published a video of a visibly drunk Galliano telling a stranger he loved Hitler — footage that went viral and effectively ended his career overnight, even though that specific incident was never formally tried (the people involved didn't press charges).
Dior fired him within days, before its fall-winter 2011 show. His own label, also owned by LVMH, cut ties too.
At his June 2011 trial, Galliano told the court he remembered almost nothing from either night, citing a “triple addiction” to alcohol, Valium, and sleeping pills. The judges weren't fully convinced addiction erased responsibility: in September 2011 he was convicted of public insults based on religion and ethnicity, given a suspended €6,000 fine, and ordered to cover roughly €16,500 in legal costs and damages. No jail time.
A quiet return began at Oscar de la Renta in 2013, followed by his 2014 appointment at Maison Margiela — a house built on anonymity, which let his talent speak louder than his name. His Margiela couture shows over the next decade were widely praised as some of the most inventive in Paris.
For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.