On May 4, 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art previewed the Costume Institute's new permanent galleries and its inaugural exhibition, "Costume Art," ahead of the Met Gala. The exhibition features over 400 objects from the Met's collections, organized around themes of the body such as "The Classical Body" and "The Disabled Body," with mannequins featuring mirrored faces to reflect viewers. Speakers at the press event included Anna Wintour, Venus Williams, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with the Met Gala raising over $42 million for the museum.
The new galleries, designed by Peterson Rich and located off the Great Hall, finally give the Costume Institute a permanent, prominent space that matches its popularity, ending years of temporary relocations. Curator Andrew Bolton emphasized the exhibition's focus on the dressed body as an embodied art form, elevating fashion to equal status with other art forms within the museum's collection. This move underscores the growing institutional recognition of fashion as a legitimate and central part of art history.