NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� You certainly don鈥檛 have to tell Beyonc茅 this: Fashion, when deployed properly, is nothing less than art.
Now, will have another chance to make the point. When she co-chairs the Met Gala in May, all eyeballs will be glued to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see how one of the most watched women on the planet, in her eighth gala appearance, interprets the dress code: 鈥淔ashion is art.鈥�
The museum announced the dress code Monday, along with some gala-related details including new guest names. Joining the top co-chairs 鈥� Beyonc茅, and Vogue’s Anna Wintour 鈥� is a 鈥渉ost committee鈥� chaired by designer Anthony Vaccarello and filmmaker Zo毛 Kravitz, and featuring Additions include actor Angela Bassett and athlete Aimee Mullins.
They, and everyone else attending, will be figuring out what to wear come May 4. The code seems to have been chosen for maximum flexibility. And, quips Andrew Bolton, curator of the Met’s Costume Institute: 鈥淗opefully, it will put an end to the rather obsolete ‘Is Fashion Art?’ debate once and for all.鈥�
Looking at 鈥榯he dressed body鈥� through the centuries
For Bolton, though, the show鈥檚 the thing, to paraphrase Hamlet. As gala-watchers know, the big party is not only a fundraiser for the institute 鈥� a self-funding department 鈥� but a launchpad for the annual spring fashion exhibit. Curated by Bolton and his team, this year’s show, 鈥淐ostume Art,鈥� seeks to present fashion as a through-line in the entire history of art.
The exhibit will be the biggest, in terms of objects, that the institute’s ever done: nearly 400 in total, or 200 garments and 200 artworks from around the museum, placed in pairs. 鈥淚t’s a beast,鈥� Bolton said, looking a tad exhausted as he guided a reporter around the beginnings of the exhibit on a recent visit.
The idea, he noted, is to examine 鈥渢he dressed body鈥� in all its aspects, and to make the point that not only is fashion art 鈥� something previous shows have shown 鈥� but that art is fashion. 鈥淚t鈥檚 reversing what we鈥檝e done before,鈥� Bolton says. 鈥淣ow we’re looking at art through the lens of fashion.鈥�
What that means, in practice, is that you might see an art object in a glass case 鈥� say, a vase from ancient Greece. Displayed above the case will be a garment from the museum鈥檚 vast costume collection, echoing the fashion on figures in that vase.
For now, walls full of Post-it notes
Right now, that vase is represented by a small color snapshot, affixed with dozens of others to the walls of a small conference room in the bowels of the museum 鈥� along with countless Post-it notes. Bolton has been spending lots of time in this space, which looks rather like a teenager鈥檚 room (albeit a very cultured teenager.)
Bolton walks along the walls, pointing out each of 12 sections organized to show the range of bodies 鈥� and body types 鈥� in art. Some are pervasive, like the classical body or the naked body.
Others have been overlooked, like the disabled body, the aging body, or the corpulent body. Bolton notes that in art, the corpulent body has almost entirely been used as a fertility symbol. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like the notion that corpulence does not exist without fertility,鈥� he says.
Then there’s the pregnant body, also much overlooked in both art and fashion history. It’s represented here by the pairing of Edgar Degas’ 鈥淧regnant Woman,鈥� a naturalist sculpture that gives a rare look at 19th-century maternity, with designer Georgina Godley鈥檚 1986 dress featuring exaggerated padded curves 鈥� defined as 鈥渁 radical feminist critique鈥� of traditional fashion.
The exhibit, which seeks to emphasize diversity in body types, also aims to enable viewers to see themselves in some of the fashions. Thus, mannequins will feature heads with polished steel surfaces 鈥� as in mirrors 鈥� designed by artist Samar Hejazi.
A splashy new home for fashion at the Met
Bolton, who’s curated the Met鈥檚 biggest costume shows, nonetheless says he felt special pressure here to do 鈥渟omething spectacular.鈥� That鈥檚 because 鈥淐ostume Art鈥� is inaugurating, with fanfare, a prominent new home for the museum鈥檚 fashion exhibits. The new Conde M. Nast Galleries 鈥� created from what was formerly the museum鈥檚 retail store 鈥� will occupy nearly 12,000 square feet (1,115 square meters) off the museum鈥檚 Great Hall.
For one thing, that will mean gala guests now can conveniently view the exhibit and then stroll easily to the dinner portion of the evening at the Temple of Dendur 鈥� or toggle between the two. A more lasting result: it will prevent snaking lines elsewhere in the museum, once the show opens to the public May 10.
For 鈥淐ostume Art,鈥� the galleries, still being completed, consist of two main rooms with different heights 鈥� one with an 18-foot ceiling, one with a 9-foot ceiling. The idea is for viewers to weave in and out of each space. 鈥淭here’s a permeability,鈥� Bolton says.
He calls the new show, already, one of the highlights of his career 鈥� and a statement of intent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to make a statement here 鈥� that this is something WE can do at the Met,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲e have access to 16 curatorial departments across the museum.鈥� And, of course, access to the institute’s more than 33,000 garments. 鈥淩eally, nobody else has this capacity,鈥� Bolton says.
He hopes the show will inaugurate not only new galleries, but an era of collaboration with the rest of the museum 鈥� one that puts fashion, well, forward.
鈥淐ostume Art鈥� will run from May 10 through Jan. 10, 2027.
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