The Met Gala Just Got a New Body: Anna Wintour Unveils 2026’s Most Fashionable Anatomy Lesson
- Colleen Richmond
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Copyright: 2025 Getty Images
On a crisp November morning inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Anna Wintour stepped onto the dais with the ease of a woman who has shaped fashion for four decades — and is nowhere near finished. Months after transitioning out of her role as Vogue’s editor-in-chief (yet still very much the mastermind behind the Met Gala), Wintour joined longtime curator Andrew Bolton to unveil the 2026 Costume Institute exhibition: “Costume Art.”
The reveal — held in New York before a roomful of editors, curators, and fashion insiders — signaled an ambitious new chapter for the Institute. Bolton described the theme as “a celebration of the body in all its strengths and weaknesses… its sublime beauty and wondrous complexity.” In other words: expect an exhibition — and a Met Gala red carpet — rooted in interpretation, individuality, and the artful push-and-pull between clothing and the human form.
What makes this debut particularly significant is its setting. The 2026 exhibition will open within the newly christened Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space that becomes the Costume Institute’s permanent home for its annual show. It’s a fitting tribute to the publishing visionary who purchased Vogue in 1909 and ushered modern fashion media into existence. The galleries will also host future fashion and art exhibitions connected to his legacy — a symbolic reminder that print, at its best, remains the backbone of cultural storytelling.
To underscore the exhibition’s focus on the body, recently retired ballet icon Misty Copeland joined Bolton in the announcement. “In classical ballet, the body is everything,” she shared. “Placement, alignment, strength — they work together on and off the stage. Fashion isn’t so different. No matter how a garment exaggerates or conceals, the body is always the starting point.” Copeland’s presence — as the first Black female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre — offered a powerful reflection on how bodies in art evolve, expand, and redefine beauty standards.
According to Vogue, the exhibition will unfold across three thematic chapters:• The Classical Body & The Nude Body• Aging Bodies & Pregnant Bodies• The Anatomical Body
The 2026 exhibition and gala will be sponsored by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with additional support from Saint Laurent and Condé Nast.
“Costume Art” opens to the public on May 10, 2026, following the Met Gala on May 4, 2026 — a first Monday in May that already promises to be visually rich, culturally charged, and brimming with the kind of fashion theater only the Met can deliver.
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