About this episode

Amy Odell and Dana Thomas discuss the cancellation of the John Galliano retrospective at the Met and its implications for fashion and key figures involved.

This is a teaser of a paywalled episode. To listen in full, become a paid subscriber of Back Row at: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Or sign up in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. In a stunning move, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has cancelled "John Galliano: Horizons," the Costume Institute retrospective planned for May 2027. Galliano's biographer and fashion journalist Dana Thomas joined Amy hours after the Met made the announcement. They discuss what this means for fashion, for John Galliano, and for the Met Gala's planner and previously all-powerful architect, Anna Wintour. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 00:30 Why Dana wasn't surprised 01:30 When you lose the politicians and the donors 03:00 "Not an aberration" — Dana's New York Times op-ed 05:00 The incidents that never got reported 06:00 The 2019 spa incident 07:30 What the comment sections revealed 11:30 Philippe Virgitti, still waiting for an apology Subscribe to the Back Row newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe Buy Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano: https://amzn.to/4cSeZHw Edited by Chrissi Harris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Amy Odell

Guest: Dana Thomas

Topics covered

• fashion
• art
• cultural events
• John Galliano
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Anna Wintour
• fashion journalism

Keywords

• John Galliano
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Dana Thomas
• Anna Wintour
• fashion retrospective
• cancellation
• fashion journalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Books & works: John Galliano: Horizons, Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano

More episodes of Back Row with Amy Odell

• How the Very Rich Really Live, From Billionaires' Row to Lauren Sánchez Bezos · September 8, 2026 · 50 min
• 'The September Issue' Rewatch: Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, and the Sienna Miller Hair Crisis (with Kate Casey) · August 31, 2026 · 1h 12m
• How Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Built Two Billion-Dollar Empires (Part 1) · August 24, 2026 · 1h 0m
• 'Matcha, Pilates, Alo' Enters Its Flop Era: Inside the Influencer Recession · August 17, 2026 · 39 min
• Is Fashion in Total Creative Collapse? · August 10, 2026 · 41 min
• John Galliano Is Finally Getting a Met Gala. Should He? (Teaser) · August 4, 2026 · 9 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Back Row with Amy Odell podcast page.