The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the theme for the 2027 Met Gala and its accompanying Costume Institute exhibition: “extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.” As reported by Vogue, the exhibition will examine how designers transform familiar garments and ordinary materials into extraordinary fashion, shifting attention toward the creative possibilities of everyday clothing.
MET GALA
From T-shirts and jeans to raincoats, trench coats and puffer jackets, the exhibition will explore the garments people regularly wear and the ways designers reinterpret them. Paper, plastic and aluminum will also feature, demonstrating how fashion can give unexpected materials new forms and meanings.
Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute, organized the exhibition with assistance from Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben. The project follows the museum’s decision to cancel its previously announced John Galliano retrospective, John Galliano: Horizons, which faced criticism over the designer’s past antisemitic and racist remarks.
The exhibition approaches its subject through two principal ideas. The first examines familiar clothing categories and how designers transform their proportions, construction and presentation. The second considers discarded materials and found objects as starting points for fashion.
The opening installation will feature pieces from Jun Takahashi‘s Fall 2024 Undercover collection, which drew inspiration from Wim Wenders’s film Perfect Days. Takahashi used collage and layering to reinterpret everyday clothing, connecting the collection to ordinary routines and personal experiences.
A section titled “Familiar Forms” will examine recognizable wardrobe staples through the work of several designers and fashion houses. The selection includes Virgil Abloh‘s Off-White T-shirts, Gianfranco Ferré‘s white shirts, trench coats by Jonathan Anderson for Loewe and designs from Burberry.
The exhibition will also feature puffer gowns from Pierpaolo Piccioli‘s Moncler collections, exploring how designers change the scale and construction of familiar outerwear.
Another section, “Common Matter,” will investigate how designers use discarded objects and inexpensive materials to create clothing. The gallery will prominently feature Maison Margiela, alongside other designers who have explored reuse and reconstruction.
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Among the featured examples are 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. The exhibition will also include Matthieu Blazy‘s Fall 2022 Bottega Veneta designs, which recreated the appearance of jeans and a cotton tank using leather.
The final gallery will present the work of Kunihiko Morinaga of Anrealage, whose experiments with geometry and proportion reconsider familiar garments, including rain parkas and trench coats.
The 2027 Met Gala will take place on May 3, ahead of the exhibition’s public opening on May 9, 2027. The exhibition will remain on view through January 9, 2028. London-based scenographic design studio 1009 will develop the exhibition’s installation, with a focus on the relationship between visitors and the garments on display.
Instagram will sponsor the exhibition, with major funding from Moncler and additional support from Condé Nast and Jordan Roth. The Costume Institute will invite visitors to reconsider the clothing they encounter daily and examine how designers use familiar objects, materials and silhouettes to create fashion.
