The Met Museum axed a controversial John Galliano exhibit after backlash. Now, curator Andrew Bolton reveals the replacement: ‘I had no Plan B’
No room for error.
The Met Museum is officially moving in a new direction for its next major Costume Institute exhibition. After a period of uncertainty regarding the calendar, curator Andrew Bolton has announced that the upcoming show will be titled ‘extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday’.
According to NBC News, this announcement comes just two months after the museum decided to scrap its original plan to honor British designer John Galliano. That earlier project was canceled following significant backlash related to the designer’s past anti-Jewish and anti-Asian remarks. The decision to cancel the Galliano show was a joint move between the museum and the designer.
Museum director Max Hollein confirmed that they agreed not to proceed with the exhibition, a choice that received public support from longtime Met Gala chair Anna Wintour. She noted in an August statement that the designer’s decision to step back was courageous and that she believed it was the right path forward. The original plan had been particularly fraught because its opening would have landed on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 3, 2027.
Bolton faced a massive challenge
He was left with a timeline that offered very little room for error. “I had no Plan B, to be honest,” Bolton said. “There wasn’t another exhibition already researched and ready to go.” He wanted to ensure that whatever replaced the Galliano show would not feel like a lesser substitute. It was important to him that the new theme maintained a sense of contemporary resonance and possessed the same level of beauty and provocation that a Galliano show would have provided.
Bolton found his inspiration by looking at the work he had just completed for ‘Costume Art’, the Costume Institute’s recently closed 2026 show. According to Vogue India, that show focused on the “dressed body” and the way people experience clothing. It led him to think about the items worn everyday, like favorite T-shirts or reliable pairs of jeans.
By focusing on these archetypal garments, the new exhibition aims to help visitors see the everyday in a new light. It will explore how designers take humble, or even disposable, materials like paper, plastic, and metal and transform them into wearable art. The exhibition is split into two primary directions. The first focuses on the elevation of familiar garments, while the second looks at the transformation of common matter.
Bolton believes this is a timely subject. He feels that questions of value and resourcefulness give the exhibit an urgency. It forces people to ask what they choose to keep and what they discard.
The exhibit will feature works from designers who often repurpose materials in their work
Visitors will be greeted at the start of the exhibit by pieces from Japanese designer Jun Takahashi’s fall 2024 Undercover collection. These pieces were inspired by the film Perfect Days, which explores the beauty found in daily life. Bolton appreciates how these garments provide a human starting point for the exhibition.
On the other end of the spectrum, the show will close with the work of Kunihiko Morinaga of Anrealage. His use of unfamiliar geometries and unexpected proportions will turn items like rain parkas into objects of wonder.
Throughout the gallery, the exhibit will feature works from designers who have made a habit of repurposing materials. Martin Margiela will be a prominent name in this section, joined by others who prove that a paper dress can require as much skill and labor as a high-end silk gown.
People will also see familiar forms reworked by designers like Virgil Abloh, Gianfranco Ferré, and Jonathan Anderson. Even the puffer gowns from Pierpaolo Piccioli’s work for Moncler will be highlighted as examples of how designers put the extra in the ordinary.
The installation itself is being designed by the London-based studio 1009
Bolton wants the space to feel like a dialogue between the art and the people walking through it. He even likes the idea of visitors showing up in their own favorite hoodies or jeans to match the theme. “There’ll be a humanity to it,” he said.
The Met Gala will take place on May 3, 2027, which is the first Monday in May. The exhibition will then open to the public on May 9 and remain on view through January 9, 2028. It is sponsored by Instagram, with major funding from Moncler and additional support from Condé Nast and Jordan Roth.
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