Met opens Costume Art exhibition with nine diverse mannequins
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 3
Met opens Costume Art exhibition with nine diverse mannequins
8 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 3
In the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, the forms are based on real people and include larger, pregnant, trans, wheelchair-using and limb-different bodies.
Each mannequin has a polished steel oval instead of a face, reflecting visitors back to encourage self-recognition and empathy across different bodily experiences.
The show links garments with artworks across the museum’s 17 departments and comes amid renewed political scrutiny of diversity efforts in US cultural institutions.
Can an exhibit on inclusivity, funded by the exclusive Met Gala, truly challenge fashion's beauty standards?
Will reflective mannequins foster genuine empathy or just reinforce a selfie-centric museum culture?
As 'Costume Art' champions body diversity, why is plus-size fashion simultaneously vanishing from runways?