The Met Costume Institute has announced its 2026 exhibition and Met Gala theme, “Costume Art,” which is both a call to recognize fashion as a central expression in art and a celebration of the forthcoming opening of the museum’s Condé M. Nast Galleries.

With the 2026 Met Gala still months away on May 4, 2026, co-chairs and host committee members have not been announced; however, the gallery’s thematic intentions have been shared. The theme, which forgoes the traditional colon and subtitle, not only proposes that fashion is art but also that fashion, as a medium, has an innate connection to the human body.

The two-word theme of “Costume Art” also has a historical significance in the Costume Institute's original history. The “Museum of Costume Art” was an independent institution establishe

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