What's next for Met Gala after John Galliano fallout?

The Met Gala organisers may face a difficult challenge finding a replacement exhibition after canceling plans to honour designer John Galliano earlier this week.

With less than a year before the annual event typically takes place, sources say putting together a new large-scale exhibition on short notice would be extremely difficult. 

“They could move up a future show that has already started to be planned,” the source told Page Six. The insider noted that this would still leave the museum scrambling because significant planning had already gone into the now-canceled Galliano exhibit, including research and gathering archival fashion pieces.

“It would not be on the same scale. There isn’t enough time to put together an exhibit [of a similar size],” the source said.

Another option would be to build a show around the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, which includes tens of thousands of fashion items spanning centuries.

“[It] has tons of pieces, so they could access what they have and make something thematic,” the source added.

A more drastic option would be canceling the Met Gala altogether, something that has happened only a few times in the event's history, including during the COVID lockdown and after 9/11.

This situation follows Galliano's announcement earlier this week that he was withdrawing from the planned exhibition after facing massive criticism from community leaders, donors, and advocacy groups. 

The exhibit had been tied to Galliano's past controversy from 2011, when he was found guilty in France of making offensive remarks targeting Jews. He has since spoken publicly about seeking treatment and meeting with religious leaders to make amends for it.