The Met's New 'Costume Art' Exhibition Is All About Real Bodies
Featuring pregnant, trans and larger bodies, mostly absent from traditional fashion displays.
The Met is bringing back bodies, real bodies. With our social media feeds flooded with Met Gala celebrity outfit content following the theme “Fashion is Art,” we mustn’t forget about the exhibition happening alongside it, titled Costume Art.
Curated by Andrew Bolton, the showcase intends to collapse the historical hierarchy between fine art and fashion by grounding both in the act of dressing, which means bringing real bodies to the forefront. Within this, nine new forms mostly absent from traditional fashion displays are featured, including pregnant bodies, trans bodies, disabled bodies and larger bodies. Bolton also spotlights voices and designers outside of the European sphere, side-stepping industry standards.
Mannequins are separated into thematic sections around a specific corporeal framework. One section, titled “Corpulent Body,” focuses on volume, featuring musician Yseult alongside models Jade O’Belle and Charlie Reynolds. You’ll also find the artist and designer Michaela Stark, whose work has long blurred the line between fashion and art and focused on society’s evolving body image.
The models underwent a 3D-scanning process to be digitally translated into the physical figures by sculptor Frank Benson. The heads of the figures feature mirrors instead of faces, added by Samar Hejazi, forcing the viewers to be reflected in the bodies and take part in the exhibit.
These mannequins are here to stay, with the designs making up the newest additions to the department’s permanent collection. “We are trying to complete the picture,” Bolton shared with The New York Times, to capture the full spectrum of bodies within and beyond the Met.
In other news, check out the best-dressed stars from the 2026 Met Gala.
