Metropolitan Museum Reframes Fashion with 2026 “Costume Art” Theme , New Galleries

Opening May 10, 2026, Costume Art will be the inaugural exhibition in the Met's new 12,000-square-foot Condé Nast Galleries, adjacent to the iconic Great Hall.

This space, a first-of-its-kind achievement, now provides the Costume Institute with a permanent area that will enable it to host various fashion exhibitions in the future.

Organised by Costume Institute lead Andrew Bolton, Costume Art is built around a powerful concept: the dressed body as the linchpin of artistic expression.

Instead of merely displaying clothing, the show will present almost 200 garments and accessories alongside artworks from across the Met's 5,000-year collection — everything from classical sculpture to Renaissance paintings and contemporary art.

The curatorial structure is organised around several thematic "body types":

The naked/classical body,

The anatomical body,

Bodies that are often excluded from art include those of the ageing and pregnant bodies.

Andrew Bolton has stated that this design reflects his belief that fashion is inextricably linked with the human form. "The idea was to put the body back into discussions about art and fashion … to embrace the body," he said.

To further bring this vision to life, the Met is doing something quite unusual: casting real human bodies for the mannequins that will display the clothes.

The theme "Costume Art" is also resonant historically: the Metropolitan once absorbed the independent Museum of Costume Art, which was founded in 1937. Bolton says the new exhibition isn't about elevating fashion above other art forms, dissolving outdated hierarchies.

The Gala: A Fashion Statement With a Purpose. The Met Gala, scheduled for May 4, 2026, will match up with this thematic vision. Rather than just another lavish red-carpet night, this edition promises to be a commentary on the very nature of fashion: how our clothing shapes our identities, and how bodies-in all their forms-deserve to be celebrated in art. Funded by heavy hitters like Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Condé Nast, and Saint Laurent, among many others, the Costume Art initiative signals that fashion’s place at the Met is not just symbolic, but foundational.