The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Announces 'Costume Art' Exhibition for May 2026

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has officially unveiled plans for its next major fashion exhibition, slated for May 2026. Titled "Costume Art," this highly anticipated event marks a significant milestone for the Institute. It will be the inaugural exhibition to be displayed within the newly refurbished Condé M. Nast Galleries, signaling a new era for the presentation of fashion history and design within the museum's hallowed halls.

The expansive new exhibition area encompasses approximately 1,115 square meters, translating to a substantial 12,000 square feet of display space dedicated solely to this groundbreaking show. Crucially, the location of these galleries is optimized for visitor flow and accessibility, situated immediately adjacent to the museum’s main entrance, the iconic Great Hall. This prime positioning is expected to enhance access and visibility for the thousands of patrons who visit the Met annually, ensuring that "Costume Art" reaches the widest possible audience.

The fundamental objective of "Costume Art" is to delve into the historical and artistic significance of the dressed human form. The exhibition aims to create compelling juxtapositions, pairing historical and contemporary garments with works of art spanning a remarkable five-millennium period. By placing fashion within this vast timeline, the curators seek to reposition clothing not merely as decorative attire, but as a critical medium for artistic expression and societal commentary across cultures and epochs.

Guiding this massive project is Andrew Bolton, the esteemed Curator of the Costume Institute. Bolton brings a formidable track record, having previously overseen blockbuster shows that redefined museum fashion, such as "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" (2011) and "Camp: Notes on Fashion" (2019). The exhibition is meticulously structured around various conceptualizations of the body. While it includes expected, foundational sections like "Naked Body" and "Classical Body," it also ventures into less conventional, yet profoundly relevant, territories, featuring dedicated sections exploring the "Pregnant Body" and the "Aging Body." This structure ensures a comprehensive and thought-provoking examination of the human form in art.

These thematic sections will feature striking curatorial pairings designed to illuminate the intrinsic, often overlooked, connections between fashion and fine art. A powerful example of this methodology involves displaying a 1504 engraving by the Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer directly alongside a vibrant spandex bodysuit created by Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck, sourced from his Spring/Summer 2009 collection. This specific juxtaposition exemplifies the curators' commitment to showcasing the multifaceted relationships between art and fashion, which, as they describe, range "from formal to conceptual, from aesthetic to political, from individual to universal." Such pairings promise to challenge conventional understandings of both disciplines.

The grand opening of the exhibition is strategically timed to coincide with the annual Met Gala, the Institute’s primary fundraising event, scheduled for May 5, 2026. This synchronization ensures maximum global attention. Furthermore, reflecting the exhibition’s profound focus on fashion as a legitimate and powerful art form, the highly anticipated dress code for the Met Gala itself will mirror the central theme of "Costume Art," ensuring that the event kicks off the season with a powerful, unified artistic and cultural statement.