Met Gala goes casual — think jeans, sweatshirts — for 2027 theme

The Met Gala has become known as fashion’s biggest night for a reason.

Each year the looks become more elaborate — and the red carpet walks more performative — as designers push their limits and show their flair for the avant-garde.

So what can we expect on the first Monday in May of 2027?

Jeans, T-shirts and puffer coats. Maybe even sweatpants.

The new theme, officially titled “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday” was announced Thursday, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art — roughly two months after it cancelled its planned John Galliano retrospective amid controversy.

“The ordinary is never quite as simple as it appears,” said Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute in a news release, encouraging designers to play with forms and materials that are already well known.

“A pair of jeans, a white shirt or a sweatshirt can hold traces of a life — the habits, memories and attachments that make something our own.”

Can a T-shirt be high fashion? Let’s let Zendaya answer that question.

Zendaya attends the Spider-Man: Brand New Day photo call in Paris, in June. (Aurore Marechal/Getty Images)

Nevertheless, the reaction on social media has been mixed.

“OMG, I can already tell it’s going to be the worst Met Gala in history!” wrote one Met Gala fan account on Instagram.

“If you needed a sign for a recession indicator this is it,” commented another user.

But on X, another user suggested theme wasn’t so bad, “people were acting like you had to wear jeans and a t shirt.”

The news release makes it clear, designers are encouraged to reveal unexpected elements to familiar clothes.

But the Wall Street Journal suggested the Met was “playing it safe” with the new theme after the last one was abruptly cancelled.

John Galliano controversy

The 2027 Met Gala fundraiser was initially supposed to centre around a Costume Institute exhibit titled John Galliano: Horizons.

It was a controversial choice.

Galliano was long recognized as one of the fashion world’s biggest talents for his flamboyant designs and spent years as creative director of Christian Dior. 

But in 2011, the British designer was fired from that role after a series of racist and antisemitic comments surfaced and went viral, leading to his conviction in an antisemitism trial in France.

Mannequins wearing outfits by British designer John Galliano are displayed at the Golden Age of Couture exhibition at the V&A Museum in London, in 2007. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The Met’s plans for an exhibit honouring Galliano led to severe backlash in the Jewish community and beyond.

In August, the museum announced, “following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition.”

In that same statement, Galliano said, “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it.

So now, with the theme changed to something less controversial (and perhaps more comfortable), designers have one big question to consider before May:

How cutting-edge can a Canadian tuxedo be?