Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute

Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute invites you into the stunning spectacle that comes when fashion and art meet at the annual Costume Institute gala known as the Met Gala.

Curated by Vogue editors Hamish Bowles and Chloe Malle  *  Introduction by Anna Wintour  *  Foreword by Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 

This lavish coffee table book draws from Vogue’s archives to place the iconic Met Gala alongside the groundbreaking exhibitions that shape it, presenting a visual record of how fashion, culture, and media intersect at the highest level.

Encompassing nearly two decades of exhibitions and opening-night galas, Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute follows the evolution of the Institute’s most influential shows, from Chanel to Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, China: Through the Looking Glass, Heavenly Bodies, and Camp: Notes on Fashion. Each chapter brings together exhibition photography, installation views, and the Vogue fashion editorials these shows inspired.

Anchored by imagery from both the galleries and the gala, the book pairs runway-level fashion with behind-the-scenes and red-carpet moments: designers, models, and A-list attendees arriving in looks that interpret each year’s theme. Drawing on the extensive Vogue archive, it also features work by leading photographers including Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, and Craig McDean, alongside the editorial vision of Vogue’s most influential editors and writers.

Organized chronologically by exhibition, the book offers a clear, visual progression through the Costume Institute’s recent history, showing how each show both reflects and shapes its cultural moment. The result is a detailed account of how fashion exhibitions move from curatorial concept to global event.

For readers interested in fashion, art, and contemporary culture, this volume presents both a record of the exhibitions themselves and a view of the Met Gala as a defining platform for fashion’s public expression.