The Met Gala has a new theme for 2027 — and this time, it’s all about the clothes we wear every day.
On Thursday, November 5, Vogue and The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute revealed that the spring 2027 exhibition will be titled “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.” The announcement comes just over two months after the museum’s original plans — a major retrospective of designer John Galliano — were scrapped following public backlash.
What Is the 2027 Met Gala Theme?
Rather than celebrating a single designer, “extraORDINARY” will shine a spotlight on everyday wardrobe staples like T-shirts, jeans, raincoats, sweatshirts and puffer jackets.
The exhibition will explore the theme from two angles: how designers have reinvented basic garments into high-fashion runway pieces, and how humble, “disposable” materials such as paper, aluminum and plastic have been transformed into wearable art.
The show is being curated by Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, alongside Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben. Bolton said it was important to create an exhibition that “wasn’t just a masterwork show” and had “some sort of contemporary resonance.”
As always, the exhibition will be celebrated with the Met Gala, fashion’s biggest night (see the best, worst and most oops looks from the 2026 Met Gala), which traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May.
Why the John Galliano Exhibit Was Canceled
On July 31, the Met announced that its spring 2027 exhibition would be “John Galliano: Horizons.” The show would have been only the third Costume Institute exhibition dedicated to a living designer, following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo in 2017.
But the announcement quickly sparked criticism over Galliano’s past. In 2011, he was fired from Dior after a series of antisemitic and racist incidents, including a video in which he professed his love for Hitler in a Paris restaurant. He was later convicted in Paris of two hate crimes and fined the equivalent of about $8,500.
On August 31, the Met and Galliano announced that the exhibition would not move forward. In a statement, the designer said it was “best for the exhibition not to take place at this time” and expressed deep sorrow for his past words, particularly the hurt they caused to Jewish and Asian communities.
Anna Wintour, the Vogue chief who has long championed Galliano, backed his decision, calling it “very courageous.”
Who Is John Galliano?
The British designer is one of fashion’s most celebrated — and controversial — figures. He became creative director of Givenchy in 1995 before moving to Dior, where he led the house from 1997 until his dismissal in 2011. He later made a comeback at Maison Margiela, where he worked from 2014 to 2024.
With a new theme now in place, all eyes will turn to how celebrities interpret everyday fashion on the Met steps next spring. In the meantime, catch up on how Vogue World: Milan surprised with celebrity models, and expect plenty of elevated denim, couture T-shirts and red-carpet takes on the humble puffer jacket.
