The Met Costume Institute is preparing to unveil a landmark fashion exhibition in spring 2026, one that will not only redefine how clothing is viewed within the museum context but also set the tone for the highly anticipated Met Gala 2026. The show, titled Costume Art, will open on May 10th, 2026, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and will run through January 10th, 2027.
Pairing historical and contemporary garments with artworks spanning 5,000 years, the exhibition promises to explore the relationship between clothing and the body in ways The Met has never attempted before.
Andrew Bolton and the vision behind the exhibition
Curated by Andrew Bolton, the exhibition marks the inaugural presentation in the museum’s new nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, adjacent to the Great Hall. Bolton has shaped Costume Art as an exploration of the dressed body as a unifying lens across The Met’s vast collection. He has suggested that visitors will be invited to view paintings, sculptures, and other objects through the perspective of fashion, reversing the usual hierarchy that places art above dress.
The result is a wide-ranging visual dialogue: garments from The Met Costume Institute will be presented alongside artworks that highlight formal, conceptual, political, and symbolic connections. The exhibition is divided into thematic ‘body types’, including the Naked Body, Classical Body, Aging Body, Pregnant Body, Anatomical Body, and Mortal Body. It challenges conventional fashion narratives and proposes a more diverse, lived vision of humanity.
Clothing will be elevated—literally—on tall pedestals integrated with artworks, while mirrored mannequin heads created by artist Samar Hejazi will reflect the viewer’s own image, encouraging empathy and self-recognition.
Met Gala 2026: a celebration of ‘Costume Art’
The Met Gala 2026—the famed Costume Institute Benefit—will be held on May 4th, 2026, ushering in the exhibition with its annual spectacle of celebrity fashion. The hosts have not yet been announced, but despite stepping down as Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour will continue to oversee the event in her role as editorial director of Condé Nast.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos serve as principal sponsors of both the exhibition and the Gala, with additional support from Saint Laurent and Condé Nast.
What will be on view at the upcoming fashion exhibition?
Visitors can expect to see a wide range of artworks, including paintings, photographs, sculptures and antiquities, which will be displayed alongside garments ranging from ancient dress to contemporary couture. Focusing on Western art from prehistory to the present, the exhibition aims to demonstrate how clothing has shaped artistic representation, and how, in turn, bodies have shaped clothing.
Designed by Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich of Peterson Rich Office, the exhibition architecture privileges fashion, using museum-style platforms to collapse hierarchies between art and dress.
Don’t miss our interview with Andrew Bolton, in which he reveals the choreography behind his immersive exhibitions. He discusses fashion as poetry, the evolving role of the physical and digital body, and the delicate balance between heritage and experimentation.
