Met Gala Pivots to an ‘extraORDINARY’ Theme Focused on Everyday Fashion After Backlash to Scrapped John Galliano Tribute

The Met Gala has announced the new theme for next spring’s glitzy fundraiser after scrapping its planned tribute to controversial designer John Galliano. On Thursday (Nov. 5), Vogue announced that the new theme is “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.”

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According to a post from Vogue, the exhibition will be “devoted to the undersung beauty and allure of quotidian garments,” such as T-shirts and jeans, as well as raincoats, sweatshirts, puffer jackets and more. “It will ask visitors ‘to see the everyday anew,’ said Met curator in charge Andrew Bolton in a statement. “And come at its subject from two perspectives: First, by exploring how designers have reinvented and elevated archetypal garments into runway-worthy creations and then, by highlighting how humble, even ‘disposable’ materials — like paper, aluminum, and plastic — are transformed into wearable art.”

As an example of the vibe for exhibition that will open to the public on May 9, 2027 and run through Jan. 9, 2028 — with the gala scheduled to take place on May 3 — the Vogue announcement included an image of a flowing white T-shirt gown from the spring 2024 Vetements collection.

The refreshed theme and exhibition were swapped in after the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced on Aug. 31 that next spring’s Costume Institute exhibition and gala would no longer be centered on Galliano’s work. The British fashion disrupter reportedly made the decision to withdraw from the “John Galliano: Horizons”-themed event after a harsh public backlash to his participation given his history of hate-filled antisemitic and racist remarks.

“I didn’t have a plan B,” Bolton told Vogue about his thematic pivot for the annual spring ritual that brings some of the world’s biggest celebrities to the Met in New York to walk the red carpet in avant-garde outfits inspired by the Costume Institute’s spring theme. “It was really important to come up with an exhibition that wasn’t just a masterwork show or something that we could do a little bit more easily. I wanted it to be as challenging and as provocative and as beautiful as a John show would have been. That was really important to me: to come up with an idea that wasn’t a substitute. And it had to have some sort of contemporary resonance.”

Bolton encouraged visitors to be “part of the exhibition” by wearing their favorite T-shirt, jeans or hoodie to the show.

This year’s “Costume Art”-themed event was co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and former longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour.