Met Gala opens Costume Institute 'Costume Art' May 18

The Metropolitan Museum of Art tied its 2026 Met Gala to the opening of “Costume Art,” the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, in a year when the museum formally framed the gala dress code as “Fashion is Art.” The Met said in a February 23 press release that the gala took place on Monday, May 4, and that the exhibition opened on May 10 at The Met Fifth Avenue in New York. The museum said the show features nearly 400 objects and inaugurates the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Great Hall. Coverage after the gala focused on hand-painted couture, sculptural silhouettes and one debated look worn by model Bhavitha Mandava. ### When did the exhibition actually open? The Met said “Costume Art” opened on May 10, 2026, not May 18, and will run through January 10, 2027. The museum described the exhibition as the Costume Institute’s spring 2026 show and said it examines “the centrality of the dressed body” by pairing garments with artworks from across the museum’s collection. (metmuseum.org) The Metropolitan Museum of Art said the gala on May 4 served as the annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute and as the public-facing launch around the exhibition. The Met Gala page for 2026 described the event as celebrating “Costume Art.” ### What was “Costume Art” built to show? The exhibition overview says “Costume Art” pairs fashions with works from other collecting departments to show the relationship between clothing and the body. (metmuseum.org) The Met said those pairings range from formal and aesthetic connections to political, symbolic and conceptual ones, and are organized around thematic body types. The Met’s February release said the show would juxtapose garments and works of art from across the collection to explore fashion as “an embodied artform.” The museum also said the exhibition is the first in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries. ### How did the gala connect to that museum framing? The Met said the 2026 dress code was “Fashion is Art,” inviting guests to express their relationship to fashion as an embodied art form. (metmuseum.org) The museum named Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour as co-chairs, with Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chairing the host committee. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary chairs and, according to the exhibition page, also made the exhibition possible. (metmuseum.org) The Ticker’s May 18 coverage said attendees treated the carpet as a living extension of the exhibition, with looks drawing on famous artworks and emphasizing painterly surfaces and sculptural construction. That description aligns with the Met’s own framing of the gala as part of the exhibition’s opening cycle. (metmuseum.org) ### Why did Bhavitha Mandava’s outfit become a separate story? Bhavitha Mandava’s Met Gala debut drew outsized attention because her Chanel look initially read to some viewers as casual, with apparent low-rise jeans and a zip-up jacket. People reported that the look sparked buzz for appearing to bring jeans to the Met Gala, while BBC said the debut revived debate on cultural representation. (theticker.org) Our Culture reported on May 18 that the “jeans” were in fact silk muslin printed and tailored to imitate denim, and said Mandava and Chanel artistic director Matthieu Blazy styled the look to echo earlier moments in her modeling career. The outlet said the reaction split between viewers who saw the outfit as a restrained counterpoint to the gala’s usual spectacle and others who felt the subtle styling did not register strongly enough against the “Fashion is Art” brief. (people.com) ### What comes next for this exhibition? “Costume Art” is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue through January 10, 2027, according to the museum’s exhibition page. The Met says the new galleries will host the Costume Institute’s annual spring show and, at times, exhibitions from other curatorial departments exploring the intersection of fashion and art. (metmuseum.org) (ourculturemag.com)