T-shirts, jeans and the 2027 Met Gala theme
The Met’s extraORDINARY exhibition will find the remarkable in everyday clothes and materials. Here’s the idea behind the 2027 theme, with the gala dress code still to come.
Photos: Vogue
Put the sweeping gowns and immaculate suits aside for a moment.
The Met is turning its attention to T-shirts and jeans. That doesn't mean a casual dress code has been announced for the gala; it means the clothes we know best are becoming the subject of fashion's biggest conversation. On 5 November, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that its spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition and Met Gala will explore familiar garments and everyday materials transformed by designers into something remarkable. Led by curator Andrew Bolton, extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday invites us to look at ordinary things afresh. It takes two approaches: one follows the elevation of recognisable clothes, including tees and jeans; the other looks at humble, sometimes disposable materials, from paper and aluminium to plastic, turned into
art you can wear.
The new exhibition follows the cancellation of the planned John Galliano show after a backlash over the designer's past antisemitic and anti-Asian remarks. That left people even more curious about what would come next. There had been speculation about a tribute to one of the fashion figures who died this year, such as Bob Mackie. Instead, the museum has taken a different direction.
Speaking to Vogue, Bolton explained that he wanted something as ambitious, provocative and beautiful as the Galliano exhibition would have been, rather than an easier display of established masterpieces. His starting point was the Costume Institute's 2026 exhibition, Costume Art, which put the dressed human body at the centre of the aesthetic experience. It got him thinking about
how we experience clothes in everyday life:
through habit, touch, movement and the feelings they evoke. In that sense, extraORDINARY reflects one of fashion's more interesting current directions: familiar clothes acquiring individuality through the way they're made and worn. The Met Gala takes place on 3 May 2027. The exhibition, extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday, opens to the public on 9 May 2027 and runs until 9 January 2028.
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