The Devil Forgives Galliano

Anna Wintour, John Galliano and Fashion’s Convenient Case of Amnesia

Designer John Galliano

Well, congratulations, fashion. You’ve officially run out of people to honor.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute (on knee pads in front of Anna Wintour) has chosen John Galliano as the subject of its massive 2027 exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, with the Met Gala built around the show.

Yes. That John Galliano.

The brilliant designer? Well, we could argue that point. The theatrical genius who transformed Dior? Possibly. But more importantly, the man who was caught spewing vile antisemitic and racist abuse in Paris, was recorded declaring his affection for Hitler, was fired by Dior and was subsequently convicted by a French court over racist and antisemitic insults?

Yep. That guy.

Galliano Guilty

Apparently, fashion's institutional memory lasts approximately as long as last season's handbag. And presiding over this extraordinary rehabilitation is Anna Wintour, who proclaimed that “there is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this scale than John Galliano.”

No one? Really, Anna? Of all the designers, artists, craftsmen and creative forces in fashion history, no one is more deserving?

That isn't forgiveness. That's canonization with a Cartier sponsorship (let’s see who lines up for underwriting).

Galliano and Anna Wintour

Galliano's defenders inevitably arrive carrying the familiar tray of excuses: He apologized. He went to rehab. He struggled with addiction. He educated himself about antisemitism. He rebuilt his career, and people deserve opportunities for redemption. Eh...sometimes.

There is an enormous difference between allowing someone to work again and rolling out the red carpet at one of America's most prestigious cultural institutions (we can argue that too) and essentially saying: Welcome back, maestro. We've saved you the biggest table in the room.

Redemption doesn't require a Met Gala.

Galliano wasn't canceled into obscurity. He returned to one of fashion's most important houses, Maison Margiela, where he spent a decade rebuilding his professional reputation. Fashion already gave him his second act, but now we're apparently entering Act Three: sainthood.

And this is where Wintour's judgment becomes much like her personal taste: absurd.

Fashion loves lecturing the rest of us about inclusion, sensitivity, social responsibility and which cultural sins are unforgivable. Say the wrong thing, wear the wrong thing or support the wrong cause and the industry can discover moral outrage over anything.  

But Galliano? Suddenly we're encouraged to consider “the full arc” of a man's life. How wonderfully convenient. Imagine an executive from some unfashionable industry being filmed praising Hitler and making grotesque antisemitic comments. Would Vogue be organizing his comeback tour? Of course not. But Galliano makes breathtaking dresses! Right?

To its credit, the Met says the exhibition won't ignore Galliano's disgrace. The museum plans to address his conduct and its consequences rather than simply pretending 2011 never happened.

Now, there is some progress. But there's something deliciously dumb about building an enormous celebratory exhibition around someone and then congratulating yourself because one room explains why celebrating him is controversial.

Galliano's talent isn't the issue. The man is unquestionably one of the most imaginative designers of the modern era. His work at Givenchy, Dior, his own label and Margiela belongs in fashion history. But honoring a living designer with one of the Costume Institute's rare solo retrospectives is something else entirely. Only Yves Saint Laurent and Rei Kawakubo have previously received this treatment while alive.

Now Galliano joins them? Quite a promotion for a man whose résumé includes “fired from Dior after antisemitic tirade.” It’s there, read it yourself.

Headline and Photo From The Guardian

Guests can arrive in Galliano couture while explaining to reporters how deeply committed they are to fighting hate. This is so ‘fashion business’. It is the only industry that trips over red carpets to get a front row seat and then black car limo to the next designer intime to get a few step-and-repeat shots for WWD.

And declaring that a man with this history is the person most deserving of one reveals something far more interesting than Galliano's redemption. It says more about Wintour’s smug existence.

When a Vogue employee took a day off for Yom Kippur, Wintour allegedly asked her if she was “off being Jewish’ from then on. When her sidekick André Leon Talley complained that the magazine needed a bit more diversity, Wintour remarked that, “not every month is Black History Month”, or when she reportedly said in a staff meeting that she “wanted to do something about Asians because Asians are everywhere”.

I suppose this reveals fashion's moral hierarchy is still being ruled by Anna Wintour.