The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot suite of exhibition spaces designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Peterson Rich Office. Located adjacent to the museum's Great Hall, the galleries relocate fashion exhibitions from a previously tucked-away basement space to one of the museum's most visible and architecturally significant locations. The new spaces debuted with "Costume Art," an exhibition organized by The Costume Institute and curated by Andrew Bolton, which places roughly 200 garments and accessories in dialogue with 200 artworks from the museum's collection, exploring themes such as "The Classical Body," "The Aging Body," and "The Disabled Body." The design, by architects Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, uses a restrained material palette of grey marmorino plaster and oak doors framed by limestone arches to create permanent-feeling yet flexible spaces that harmonize with the museum's historic Beaux-Arts architecture.
This expansion matters because it signals a broader institutional shift in how museums perceive fashion's role within the art world, elevating it from a secondary or decorative discipline to one worthy of prime gallery space alongside painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. The architectural integration—where fashion galleries now sit directly beside iconic collections rather than underground—challenges traditional hierarchies within museum curation. Additionally, the project is part of a larger transformation at The Met, with Peterson Rich Office also reimagining dining spaces, retail areas, and public entrances, reflecting a trend among major institutions to rethink visitor experience and circulation. The deliberate design of the galleries as active participants in the exhibition experience, rather than neutral containers, sets a new standard for how fashion can be presented and contextualized in museum settings.