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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, together with the Costume Institute, has announced the theme for the 2026 event and its spring exhibition, revealing that the focus will be "Costume Art." This upcoming showcase will be the first to debut inside the Condé M. Nast Galleries, the museum's expansive new 12,000-square-foot space opening in May 2026.
Curator Andrew Bolton described the exhibition as a landmark moment. "It's a huge moment for the Costume Institute," he told Vogue. "It will be transformative for our department, but I also think it's going to be transformative to fashion more generally—the fact that an art museum like The Met is actually giving a central location to fashion."
Bolton said the concept centers on the dressed body, calling fashion "the common thread throughout the whole museum." Even the nude, he noted, "is never naked. It's always inscribed with cultural values and ideas."
The exhibit will pair nearly 200 artworks — from sculptures to paintings — with 200 garments and accessories, spanning prehistory to contemporary design. Organised into three sections, it will spotlight bodies omnipresent in art, bodies historically overlooked (including pregnant, aging or disabled forms), and universal anatomical bodies. In a creative twist, the mannequins will feature mirrored faces by artist Samar Hejazi. "Where the face is a mirror, you're looking at yourself," Bolton explained. The goal is to "facilitate empathy and compassion" and encourage visitors to see themselves reflected in the clothing.
At a press event, retired ballerina Misty Copeland reflected on Bolton's vision: "What struck me most was his belief in fashion as an embodied art. Something deeply connected to who we are." She said the show argues that "the body in all its forms" deserves to be viewed as art.
Sponsors for the 2026 exhibition include Saint Laurent, Condé Nast, and Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, whose involvement marks another move into the high-fashion sphere.
While the official dress code remains under wraps, Bolton hinted that the theme's focus on body–clothing connection could inspire sculptural silhouettes, form-fitting looks and sheer styles that play with anatomy — a likely contrast to 2025's "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" and its "Tailored for You" dress code.
