Jet-lagged in the early hours of Sunday morning, I frustratedly grabbed my phone and opened up Instagram. The news that the 2027 Met Gala will honour British fashion designer John Galliano flooded my feed.
The feeling of “seriously?” was quickly followed by the inevitable swipe through the comment section. “About time,” was the general sentiment, interspersed among users praising the courage of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and positing that 2027’s instalment will be “the best ever.”
Quite the statement given that back in 2010 Galliano famously embarked on an antisemitic tirade, in which he detailed his “love” for Hitler while telling a group of Jewish women: “People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be f***ing gassed.”
He was subsequently dismissed from his role of creative director at Dior and fined, citing stress and addiction as the reason behind the incident, which was filmed and disseminated online. After studying Judaism and the Holocaust with Rabbi Barry Marcus and leaders from the Anti-Defamation League, Galliano returned as Maison Margiela's creative director in October 2014.
According to the majority of the non-Jewish fashion crowd, Galliano has sufficiently repented for his sins. Anna Wintour herself allegedly sought the advice of rabbis before the official announcement dropped publicly. Yet, the news has given antisemitism a hall pass to raise its ugly head once again – and quite frankly, as a Jewish fashion editor, I’m furious it’s now circling my terrain.
There’s no denying that Galliano is a creative genius. I’m a big believer in separating the art from the artist, and this is something I hold myself to here. “We were all quaking in our boots,” Vogue's global editor-at-large Hamish Bowels told Dana Thomas, author of Gods And Kings, upon seeing Galliano’s portfolio for the first time: “He was clearly the star.”
But does he warrant Met Gala martyrdom? Bear in mind that Yves Saint Laurent, Rei Kawakubo and Karl Lagerfeld are the only other designers to be honoured by the institute.
“I'm deeply disturbed,” says jeweller Susan Caplan of the news. “[The Met Gala] is one of the highest honours that our industry can bestow and I just cannot understand why it's being given to him. During a time of such antisemitism…I believe once an antisemite, always an antisemite.”
My concern is that the Met Gala is now primarily a social media event. And where is the least safe space for Jews to voice their opinions? Nuance-allergic, sensationalist social media.
Jews who have questioned the move have been bombarded with backlash, many insisting their feelings on the matter are objectively wrong, accusing them of "playing the victim" and, to borrow from David Baddiel, resorting to the inevitable "whataboutery."
I wouldn't take issue with an exhibition on Galliano's work. It would allow for what scholar Mary Louise Pratt called a "contact zone": a conversation about his career – the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet, The Met Gala feels like a performative celebration where that conversation is lost among the tulle, despite Wintour suggesting it won't be. How will Jewish designers engage with the theme? Zac Posen is a Met Gala favourite, as is Harris Reed, whose husband, Eitan Senerman, is Jewish. Only time will tell.
“Putting Galliano at centre stage for the biggest fashion event in the world doesn’t exactly fill me with joy,” says fashion and beauty writer Saskia Kemsley, who highlights how Kanye was banned from the UK for his antsemitic comments. “I’m not sure what the right thing to do is, given his apologies for his behaviour. We can’t sequester the designer’s talent into oblivion. There’s no simple answer.”
The timing is what troubles me most. It feels as though The Met is leaning into the kind of polarising discourse that thrives on social media – following this year's Jeff Bezos-fuelled spectacle – at a moment when the cost is borne by Jews. Many of my Jewish friends didn't even want to comment for this piece, fearing abuse and professional fallout.
I have no desire to erase Galliano from fashion history. As our grandparents' generation grows older, living memory of the Holocaust fades with it. As someone who loves fashion, and whose "forefathers were gassed", to borrow Galliano's own words, I hope he has changed. But forgiveness cannot be demanded, nor assumed by those untouched by his words.
As a Jewish fashion editor, I don't want my industry to become another place where Jewish voices are hushed for the sake of a good party. Before we celebrate Mr Galliano, perhaps we should first ask whether we've truly listened to the people he hurt.
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