The Metropolitan Museum of ArtUpper East Side
Costume Art
Inaugurating the new Conde Nast Galleries, the Costume Institute pairs nearly 400 garments with paintings and sculpture to explore how art has depicted the dressed body.
More in New York
Every mannequin here has a mirrored slab where its face should be. Lean in to read the label on the Gucci dress with a uterus appliqué and the face looking back is yours.
The Costume Institute's new galleries, nearly 12,000 square feet off the Great Hall where the gift shop used to be, sort about 400 objects into body types: naked, classical, pregnant, aging, disabled, mortal. Garments stand beside art from across the Met, so Van Gogh's Irises hangs between a Yves Saint Laurent and a Loewe ensemble. This is the Met Gala's show, and the Gala's dress code was "Fashion is Art". Here you can wear sneakers.
Critics split. Wallpaper called it "a compelling and deeply researched exhibition"; ARTnews found most pairings "vague and sloppy" and gave it "a failing grade". Come for the clothes and the pairings that click. It's in Gallery 099, included with Met admission ($30, pay what you wish for New York State residents), and open until 9pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Look for
McQueen's wooden legs for Aimee Mullins
Look for the carved timber prosthetic boots Alexander McQueen made in 1999 for the Paralympian, in the section on the disabled body.
Gaultier's SAFE SEX FOR EVER shirt
A 1997 Gaultier shirt and a 1971 Joe Brainard drawing both show heart tattoos splayed across a man's chest; ARTnews called this pairing the show's most powerful.
Nicole Kidman's Moulin Rouge! dress
The black Gaultier she wore to the 2001 premiere stands beside Adam McEwen's fake obituary painting of Kidman, in which she wears the same dress.
The Gucci uterus dress
Alessandro Michele's Gucci dress, with a uterus appliqué, is paired with a small Egyptian carnelian figurine in the pregnant body section.
Irises between two ensembles
Van Gogh's Irises hangs flanked by a 1988 Yves Saint Laurent haute couture look and a Loewe look from spring 2025.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- First-Timers
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want each artwork explained in context: ARTnews says the show treats them as props for the clothes.
With kids
Children 12 and under get into the Met free, and the show is included with admission.
Also at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
8
- Collection in Focus: Modern European CurrentsPhoto: Ariel Ione Williams, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to NowCourtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Taryn Simon | Father Country I Do Love YouCourtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- The Metropolitan Museum of ArtHugo Schneider, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Neue Galerie New YorkFrancesca.hyanna19 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumAjay Suresh, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design MuseumEpicgenius, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- American Museum of Natural HistoryIngfbruno, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0