Met Museum ditches couture for everyday fashion

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has announced a new exhibition, "extraOrdinary: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday." This comes after the cancellation of a planned 2027 exhibition focused on designer John Galliano. The original theme faced significant public criticism due to Galliano's history of antisemitic remarks, leading to its postponement in late August. The museum's decision to pivot to everyday fashion items like bluejeans, puffer jackets, and white T-shirts is seen as a move away from controversy. However, this new direction could potentially spark its own discussions.

The shift to ordinary materials and garments represents a deliberate contrast to the couture-focused Galliano show. The controversy surrounding the Galliano exhibition also highlighted concerns about donor influence on programming, particularly involving Anna Wintour. The accessibility of items like denim and plain cotton, worn by nearly everyone, offers a potentially unifying theme for the museum's next major fashion presentation.