The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the new theme for its 2017 Costume Institute exhibition and Met Gala 2017: “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons.” Opening on May 4, the show will be the first monograph show at the museum to focus on a living designer since its Yves Saint Laurent exhibit in 1983.
“Rei Kawakubo is one of the most important and influential designers of the past forty years,” said the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, Andrew Bolton. “By inviting us to rethink fashion as a site of constant creation, recreation, and hybridity, she has defined the aesthetics of our time.”
The exhibit will feature about 120 Comme des Garçons womenswear designs by Kawakubo, dating back to the label’s first runway collection in 1981, all the way to her most recent shows. The pieces will be arranged by contrasting themes (East/West, male/female, past/present), which touch upon Kawakubo’s fascination with “in-betweenness.” The mannequins featuring Kawakubo’s designs will also be more accessible than ever, as they will be placed at eye-level without any glass or other physical barriers between them and the viewer.
The Costume Institute Benefit will take place, as is tradition, on May 1, the first Monday of the month. The party will be cochaired by Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour, with Kawakubo serving as honorary chair, and the exhibit will be sponsored by Apple, Condé Nast, Farfetch, H&M, and Maison Valentino.
See Every Look from the 2017 Met Gala Red Carpet:
