The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will present The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” exploring the centrality of the dressed body by displaying objects from the Museum’s extensive collection alongside historical and modern garments from The Costume Institute. The exhibition will be the first in The Met’s new, nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries and will be open from May 10 to January 10.
Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour will co-chair The Costume Institute benefit, also known as The Met Gala, on Monday, May 4, to celebrate the opening of “Costume Art” and raise funds for The Costume Institute. Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz will co-chair the Gala Host Committee, with members including Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Alex Consani, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Paloma Elsesser, LISA, Chloe Malle, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, Lauren Wasser, Anna Weyant, A’ja Wilson, and Yseult.
Focusing on Western art from prehistory to present, “Costume Art” will be showcased as a series of thematic body types, highlighting their widespread presence and lasting influence. “These comparisons will highlight the inextricable relationship between clothing and the body and reveal that artistic representations of the body are shaped by the garments that clothe them and that the garments, in turn, are shaped by the bodies which they clothe,” read a statement from The Met.
“’Costume Art’ will present a dynamic and scholarly conversation between garments from The Costume Institute and an array of artworks from across The Met’s vast collection, elevating universal and timeless themes while bringing forward new ideas and ways of seeing,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer.
“For The Costume Institute’s inaugural exhibition in the Condé M. Nast Galleries, I wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the Museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as an embodied artform. Rather than prioritizing fashion’s visuality, which often comes at the expense of the corporeal, ‘Costume Art’ privileges its materiality and the indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear,” said Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute.