AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.AnalysisThis may be the end of the Costume Institute’s John Galliano exhibition, but it’s not likely to be the end of his career.Listen · 5:25 min The designer out on the scene in London in March.Credit...Dave Benett/Getty ImagesBy Jacob GallagherJacob Gallagher covers the fashion industry and its intersection with broader cultural issues.Sept. 1, 2026John Galliano, who on Monday withdrew from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s show against a swelling chorus of criticism from local politicians, trustees and donors, is not leaving the spotlight any time soon.The designer, who has never entirely shaken off antisemitic comments he made over a decade ago, still has a long-gestating partnership with Zara, the fast-fashion retailer, set to debut this month. This comes after Galliano spent a decade as the creative director of Margiela, where he created some of the most critically acclaimed work of his career. He left that label in late 2024.In truth, fashion has never forsaken Galliano. Clothes from Dior collections are as coveted as ever on the resale market, and as recently as 2021, he was walking the red carpet at the British Fashion Awards. Kim Kardashian and Zendaya wore Galliano dresses to the 2024 Met Gala. Critics and collectors continue to hold him up as the rare creative director who reigned over fashion in the 1990s and continues to charm Instagram-age fashion obsessives today.This week, many prominent members of the fashion ecosystem — including Alessandro Michele of Valentino, Marc Jacobs and the model Anja Rubik — made public offerings of support on Galliano’s Instagram account and on the Vogue Instagram post about the show.Some, on social media in particular, are interpreting the exhibition’s implosion as a form of cancel culture. But in truth, Galliano was never canceled — at least not by the community that knew him best.A brief break with successGalliano was fired from Dior in 2011, where he had been creative director for 15 years, after his conviction of a hate crime in a French court and the surfacing of antisemitic comments he made, but his time in the wilderness was brief. Immediately he found apologists in the fashion world, ready to see past, or explain away, his behavior. “It makes me terribly worried for him,” Daphne Guinness, a British socialite, told The New York Times in 2011. “He has had a couple of tough years.”Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT