The Met's Misfire: A Cautionary Tale of Fashion and Scholarship The Metropolitan Museum of Art's sudden cancellation of its John Galliano retrospective may seem like a minor incident, but it highlights a larger issue: the blurring of lines between fashion as art and fashion as commerce.
As the Met's Costume Institute showcases contemporary designers while maintaining its commitment to scholarship, it must re examine its rules and guidelines for exhibiting living artists.
The decision makers at the Met may have underestimated the public's perception of a show about Galliano's work, even one that interrogated his past behavior, as nothing more than a publicity stunt.