Anna Wintour’s staff is reportedly consumed by embarrassment and confusion over the way the organization’s leadership handled the controversy surrounding John Galliano and the 2027 Met Gala.
“Everyone is whispering behind [Anna’s] back, but nobody says anything to her face,” a Condé Nast insider told Page Six. “They just automatically nod along and agree with everything she says.”
According to the source, there were intense behind-the-scenes discussions about how controversial the decision to honor Galliano had been. Nevertheless, staffers were simply too afraid to directly challenge one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most influential trustees and Vogue’s global editorial director.
“This is exactly how these situations get out of hand. People are afraid of losing their jobs, so nobody wants to be the brave one who stands up and says, ‘This is a bad idea,’” the insider explained.
“There were certainly people who were concerned, but nobody was willing to challenge her personally. And now everyone is simply stunned by how clumsily this situation was handled.”
As Page Six previously reported, the backlash reached a peak Monday morning when 65-year-old John Galliano announced that he was withdrawing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s planned 2027 exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons. The decision came amid continued criticism over his controversial past, including racist and antisemitic remarks.
“After much reflection and discussions with everyone involved, I have decided, with deep sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to go ahead at this time,” Galliano said in an official statement.
The former Dior designer added that he did not want to put the Metropolitan Museum in an awkward position amid the controversy or distract attention from the work of the Costume Institute.
Anna Wintour supported both the designer and his decision. In a statement published on the official Met Gala website, she said: “John’s decision to cancel an exhibition dedicated to his work takes great courage and says a great deal about the person he is.”
Earlier this month, the museum and Vogue announced plans for a major exhibition celebrating Galliano’s career. The news sparked a mixed reaction, as the designer remains a deeply polarizing figure following his infamous 2011 incident.
The planned tribute immediately drew fierce criticism for another reason: the 2027 Met Gala is scheduled for the first Monday in May — a date that coincides with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Before announcing the exhibition, 76-year-old Wintour, Galliano himself and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton held meetings with influential rabbis and Jewish leaders in New York in an effort to “hear their thoughts on potential issues surrounding last year’s fashion triumph.”
Nevertheless, Anna remained one of the designer’s most staunch defenders.
“There is no one more deserving of an exhibition of this magnitude than John Galliano,” she previously said. “His creative legacy at Dior, Givenchy, Margiela, under his own label and beyond is an extraordinary combination of profound scholarship and creativity, darkness and light, the past, present and future — all brought together in a brilliant way.”
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