Met Museum show at new Costume Institute puts fashion in same spotlight as Egyptian artefacts

Costume Art pairs couture pieces with items from its collection in exploration of many kinds of human bodies

Speaking at the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibition in New York, Anna Wintour described the first Monday in May as her “favourite day of the year, and also my most terrifying one”.

This particular Monday may be more high-stakes than previous years, with Monday night’s Met Gala for the exhibition’s launch mired in controversy, owing to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos’s sponsorship of the event. It is also the inaugural exhibition for the Costume Institute’s new home: a 12,000 sq ft space, named the Condé M Nast Galleries, that puts the museum’s fashion exhibitions in a considerably more high-profile spot, right off its Great Hall.