The first Monday in May has arrived, and with it, the annual pilgrimage to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year’s Met Gala honors the Costume Institute’s latest exhibition, “Costume Art,” which promises to examine the dressed—and undressed—body across time and culture. The show is structured around 13 sections, including “The Naked Body,” “The Pregnant Body,” and “The Anatomical Body,” pairing garments with paintings, sculptures, and photographs to explore the indivisible link between fabric and flesh.
For those of us who study the history of intimate apparel, this theme feels particularly resonant. The lingerie industry has long understood that clothing is never merely functional; it is a dialogue between the body and society. When we look at the corsets of the 19th century, they were not just undergarments but sculptural statements about posture, propriety, and power. Today, brands like Agent Provocateur—founded in 1994 by Joseph Corré and Serena Rees as a rebellion against minimalist high-street lingerie—continue that tradition of the body as a site of artistic expression.
The evening’s dress code, “Fashion is Art,” has been interpreted by a host committee that includes Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams, alongside figures like Anthony Vaccarello of Saint Laurent and Zoë Kravitz. As we watch Cara Delevingne and La La Anthony ascend those steps, we are witnessing a living archive: each silhouette, each strap, each sheer panel a footnote in the long history of how we choose to reveal and conceal.
Originally reported by WWD