Fashion

John Galliano’s Best Met Gala Red Carpet Looks, Before He Became the Theme

BYKhaoula Ghanem

August 3, 2026

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that John Galliano would be the subject of its 2027 Costume Institute exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, it immediately became one of the most debated Met Gala themes in recent memory. Every year, the annual exhibition serves as the inspiration for the Met Gala, the New York fundraiser that benefits the Costume Institute and has grown into fashion’s biggest red carpet. In 2027, the spotlight will fall on one of the industry’s most brilliant and divisive designers. The exhibition, opening on May 9, 2027, will trace Galliano’s career from his graduate collection at Central Saint Martins through his work at Givenchy, Christian Dior, his eponymous label, and Maison Margiela, while also confronting the controversy that reshaped his life and career.

During his tenure as creative director of Dior between 1996 and 2011, the Gibraltar-born designer transformed the Paris runway into theatrical productions filled with historical references, elaborate craftsmanship, and cinematic fantasy. His designs blurred the line between costume and couture, inspiring generations of designers and redefining what a fashion show could be. That legacy was overshadowed in 2011, when Galliano was dismissed from Dior after making antisemitic and racist remarks in Paris. He was later convicted in France of public insults based on race and religion, disappearing from the industry before returning in 2014 as creative director of Maison Margiela following years away from the spotlight. His comeback has remained a subject of ongoing debate, with the 2027 exhibition once again raising questions about redemption, accountability, and whether artistic achievement can ever be separated from personal conduct.

The controversy surrounding Galliano’s selection has inevitably dominated the conversation. Yet if history is any indication, it will also produce one of the most visually spectacular Met Galas in years. Few designers possess an archive as rich, recognizable, and endlessly referential as Galliano’s. His work spans pirate fantasies, Belle Époque silhouettes, Japanese influences, Victorian romance, bias-cut gowns, surreal tailoring, and the deconstructed artistry of Margiela, offering guests an almost limitless source of inspiration.

Long before becoming the exhibition’s namesake, Galliano had already established himself as a defining presence on the Met Gala steps. His creations have dressed everyone from Princess Diana (in her one and only Met Gala appearance) and Nicole Kidman to Rihanna, Zendaya, Kim Kardashian, Gwendoline Christie, and countless other celebrities across decades. Whether designing the lavish couture spectacles of his Dior years or the conceptual masterpieces of Maison Margiela, Galliano has repeatedly delivered some of the event’s most unforgettable fashion moments. Before the industry’s attention turns to a Met Gala dedicated entirely to his work, we’re looking back at the very best John Galliano looks ever to grace fashion’s biggest night.