The Met’s next fashion exhibit will celebrate women designers

The Met just announced its latest fashion exhibit, and it's unlike any the museum has curated before. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute’s fall 2023 exhibition will be a celebration of female designers and women-led fashion houses, curated from the museum’s permanent collection. 

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On view at The Met from December 7, 2023, through March 3, 2024, the exhibit will showcase about 80 objects documenting the fashion work of more than 70 makers, tracing the history of influential women-led fashion houses from the 20th century until today.

Expect to learn about pioneering female designers and their more famous successors, with work from Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Adèle Henriette Nigrin Fortuny, Gabriela Hearst, Ann Lowe, Claire McCardell, Pia Davis and Autumn Randolph for No Sesso, Miuccia Prada, Madeleine Vionnet, Vivienne Westwood, and many more, on view. Iconic pieces by well-known designers will also be on display, including garments by Sarah Burton, Gabrielle Chanel, Ann Demeulemeester, Elizabeth Hawes, and Jeanne Lanvin

"This timely exhibition will invite visitors to reflect on the vital contributions of women to fashion from the early 20th century to the present through The Costume Institute’s incomparable collection," said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO."Women Dressing Women will also continue the Museum’s dedication to amplifying historically underappreciated voices while celebrating the work of those who have become household names. The spectacular garments on view will inspire a renewed appreciation for the multidisciplinary talents at the heart of this vibrant art form and for the countless women whose contributions were, and continue to be, the lifeblood of the global fashion industry we see today."

“Women Dressing Women” will take on four main themes: anonymity, visibility, agency, and absence/omission. The exhibit is curated to offer a new interpretation of the traditional canon of fashion history and explore how the fashion industry has been influential for women’s social, financial, and creative autonomy. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute organizes one or two exhibits each year. The Costume Institute Benefit (a.k.a. The Met Gala), is the annual official opening of the spring exhibition.