NEW YORK — If there was one unifying theme for all the fashionable blockbusters at the Met, it was this simple idea. that fashion is art.
“The Art of Costume” was announced Monday as the next big exhibition at the museum's Costume Institute, launched starry Met Gala in 2026—aims to make that connection more literal than ever, pairing clothing with objects from across the museum to show how fashion has long been intertwined with various art forms.
Max Hollein, the Met's general manager and director, said in an interview ahead of Monday's announcement that he hopes the exhibition will take New York museum visitors on a (very hip) journey through art history, where they'll see connections throughout.
“This is an exhibition that can really live in a museum in an exciting way and can include very different areas of our collection—paintings, sculptures, drawings,” Hollein said.
“I hope we can all agree that fashion is an art,” Hollein added. “But I actually think the exhibition … will show how fashion actually happens, so to speak, throughout the museum and in all the different environments.”
According to Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, the new show will focus on the clothed body and will be thematically organized by different body types. For example, it will include “Nude Body” and “Classic Body”, as well as less expected topics such as “Pregnant Body” and “Aging Body”.
The connections that will be made between the artworks and the clothing will range, as the curators say in a statement, “from the formal to the conceptual, from the aesthetic to the political, from the individual to the universal, from the illustrative to the symbolic, and from the playful to the profound.”
One example: in the “Nude” section, an engraving from 1504 from German artist Albrecht Durer. will be combined with a spandex bodysuit from a Belgian designer. Walter Van Beirendonck from a 2009 collection about the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
This is also a show that will have a new home. The Art of Costume, which opens to the public on May 10, will open a new gallery space occupying about 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters), right next to the museum's Great Hall.
That means that when celebrities take to the main steps of the Met Gala on May 5—perhaps wearing advertisements for famous pieces of art—they'll be just steps away from the exhibit, making it easier to view the art before grabbing a drink and socializing. (Gala details, such as celebrity presenters and specific dress code, will be released later.)
Hollein said the museum's main goal is to make fashion more visible and provide a more enjoyable experience for patrons. In past years there were long lines for fashion exhibitions will snake around other galleries and create bottlenecks in inconvenient places.
The new Condé M. Nast Galleries, created on the site of the museum's former retail store, will house not only all of the Costume Institute's future spring exhibits, but also other exhibitions from throughout the museum.
In a statement, Bolton said the gallery space “will mark a turning point for the department to recognize the critical role that fashion plays not only in art history, but also in contemporary culture.”
The Art of Costume opens to the public on May 10, 2026 and runs until January 10, 2027.
