The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that its 2027 Costume Institute exhibition and the accompanying Met Gala will be themed extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.
The announcement, made on November 5, 2026, sets a new direction for the annual event following the cancellation of a previously planned retrospective dedicated to designer John Galliano, according to HuffPost.
A Shift Toward the Mundane
The exhibition, which will be on view from May 9, 2027, through January 9, 2028, aims to examine how designers transform familiar garments and commonplace materials into high fashion.
Curator in charge Andrew Bolton, who is organizing the show with Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben, stated that the theme is intended to encourage visitors to see the everyday anew.
The collection will feature approximately 230 pieces, including items from the museum’s own holdings alongside loans and new acquisitions. Among the expected displays are Brooke Shields’ Calvin Klein jeans, Matthieu Blazy’s trompe l’oeil leather jeans for Bottega Veneta, and Charles James’s 1930s couture puffer coat. The exhibition will be divided into two larger themes: one focusing on the elevation of archetypal garments like T-shirts and jeans, and the other, titled “Common Matter,” focusing on disposable materials such as aluminum, plastic, and paper.
The entrance to the exhibition will feature pieces from Jun Takahashi’s fall 2024 Undercover collection, which drew inspiration from Wim Wenders’s film Perfect Days. Takahashi’s work highlights the use of collage and layering to reinterpret ordinary routines. The gallery will also feature a paper dress from Comme des Garçons Spring 1992, a silverware bodice from Maison Margiela Spring 2027, and designs associated with Martin Margiela and Ellen Hodakova Larsson. Additional items include Virgil Abloh’s Off-White T-shirts, white shirts by Gianfranco Ferré, trench coats by Jonathan Anderson for Loewe, and designs from Burberry. Scenographic design studio 1009 is developing the installation, while Instagram will sponsor the event with major funding from Moncler and support from Condé Nast and Jordan Roth.
Replacing the Galliano Retrospective
Bolton noted that the institution had already been collecting Galliano designs for the original show before it was scuttled amid pressure from donors, city officials, and the Jewish community. The gala would have, in 2027, fallen on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Bolton acknowledged the difficulty of pivoting after the cancellation, noting that he had no Plan B and there was no other exhibition already researched and ready to go. I had no Plan B, to be honest,
Bolton said. He emphasized that he wanted to create an exhibition that was not merely a substitute but one that was as challenging and as provocative and as beautiful as a John show would have been.
The idea for the new show occurred to him while working on the 2026 exhibition “Costume Art,” which led him to reflect on how everyday clothing carries extraordinary meaning through habit, touch, and movement.
Met Gala Scheduled for May 2027
The 2027 Met Gala is scheduled for May 3. While the exhibition’s theme typically influences the red-carpet dress code, the museum has stated that specific attire requirements will be announced at a later date. Bolton expressed hope that visitors might choose to wear their own jeans and T-shirts, though he noted the event’s history of high-fashion statements, such as Kanye West wearing ripped jeans in 2016, A$AP Rocky layering denim under a kilt in 2023, and model Bhavitha Mandava appearing in 2026 wearing trompe l’oeil Chanel pants made of silk.
The gala, which serves as the primary fundraiser for the Costume Institute, is overseen by Vogue global editorial director Anna Wintour. Max Hollein, the museum’s director, expressed support for the new exhibition’s focus, stating, Fashion offers an immediate and compelling way to look at the world,
and the exhibition will not have a catalog, marking a departure from the department’s traditional practices.
A new theme for the 2027 Met Gala has been announced: “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.” Guests will reimagine ordinary everyday clothing such as T-shirts, jeans and sweatshirts. pic.twitter.com/AP81wgLv0X
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What do you think of the #MetGala 2027 theme? 👀 ✨ After John Galliano stepped away from the Costume Institute’s originally planned exhibition following backlash over his past antisemitic remarks, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the… pic.twitter.com/qk6bnLpou2
