Met Gala Recap: Does Fashion Really Need to Bring John Galliano Back?
It was a big night for John Galliano.
*Please pardon my hiatus. I spent the past few weeks trying to fully be present in Japan, but now that I’m back, you can expect my Japanese fashion series soon. It will be paywalled, so please consider upgrading your subscription. For now, let’s discuss the more pressing Met Gala shall we?*
Last week,
reported that Anna Wintour had tried to stage a retrospective of John Galliano’s work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, but the board said no. It seems the Sleeping Beauties theme was a last-minute backup plan. Still, seeing some major public figures (Zenday, Bad Bunny, Gwendoline Christie and Kim Kardashian) endorse him on the red carpet suggests that the campaign to restore his name is still underway. Rumor has it he’s in talks to reenter the LVMH family as creative director of Givenchy, so this might be the ultimate goal. One thing is clear: when Anna wants something, she will make it happen, so there will be more Gallino news in the future.The question I keep coming back to: Does fashion really need to bring him back?
My impression from watching High & Low, the documentary about Galliano’s life and career (another project championed by Anna), is that he is denial about his racist and antisemitic outburst. Throughout the film, he fluctuates between a state of false repentance and selective amnesia, claiming he doesn’t recall saying these things despite clear video evidence. Still, he attributes the episode to his substance abuse—likely fueled by the pressures of his former role as Dior’s creative director—but the curious thing is that he never apologized to Sidney Toledano (a Jewish man and former CEO of Dior) or the Asian man who was with the Jewish woman at the bar, and whom Galliano allegedly called a racial epithet. It makes me wonder if Galliano regrets what he did so much as he wishes the world would move on already. Sure, people make mistakes but is this attitude deserving of a public redemption tour?