The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its next Costume Institute exhibition will be titled Costume Art, opening on May 10, 2026.
The show will pair almost 200 artworks with around 200 garments and accessories.
Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator, said at a press conference: “The title Costume Art refers to the history of the Costume Institute.” He explained that fashion has “the status of art because of, and not in spite of, its relation to the body.”
New exhibition space for costume institute
The exhibition will occupy 12,000 square feet of space dedicated to the Costume Institute, located just off the museum’s Great Hall. Bolton told CNN: “It really recognizes the central role of fashion not just within the Met, but within culture.”
The galleries will be named after Condé M. Nast, the founder of the company that publishes Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and GQ. The space was made possible through a donation of an undisclosed size from Condé Nast.
Misty Copeland, who retired from ballet, attended the press conference and said: “What struck me most was his belief in fashion as an embodied art.
Something deeply connected to who we are.” She added: “The show makes a powerful case for the body in all its forms as a work of art, worthy of being seen, elevated and celebrated.”
Bolton plans to use garments and artworks to challenge the notion of an idealized body, emphasizing the connection between clothing and the human form.
The exhibition will animate the Met Gala, which has become a red carpet event that some consider more anticipated than the Oscars. The fashion sponsor is Saint Laurent, along with Condé Nast and Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos.
Tickets for the gala reportedly cost $75,000. Last year, the event raised $31 million for the museum. The gala serves as the sole fundraiser for the Costume Institute’s exhibitions, acquisitions and maintenance. The Costume Institute receives no money from the museum’s budget.
Former Vogue US editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to oversee Met Gala 2026
Designers have explored the relationship between fine art and fashion for years. Viktor & Rolf’s haute couture Fall-Winter 2015 show was named Wearable Art. Jonathan Anderson turned Vincent van Gogh paintings into feathered T-shirts for the Loewe Spring-Summer 2025 show in Paris.
Anna Wintour attended the press conference alongside Michael Kors. Earlier this year, Wintour relinquished her title as Vogue US’s editor-in-chief but remains as Vogue’s global editorial director and chief content officer for Condé Nast.
She continues to supervise the Met Gala, which she transformed from a society event into a spectacle of celebrity and fashion.
Some of the museum’s exhibitions have influenced streetstyle and red carpets. The 2019 Camp-themed show and the 2011 tribute to Alexander McQueen helped convince the public that fashion is a craft on the level of fine art.
The 2024 theme was Sleeping Beauties, which used AI to celebrate the nature of fashion. The 2023 gala was a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld, though it neglected to account for the designer’s reputation.
Last year’s theme was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, marking the first time the museum focused on the style and designs of Black Americans and the first to highlight menswear since 2003.
Bezos and Sánchez Bezos’s support marks the couple’s move in fashion. They attended the gala in 2024 and posed for the cover of Vogue US. Sánchez’s Earth Fund announced a $6.25 million partnership with the CFDA to promote sustainability in fashion.
