The Met Gala returns with a two-part exhibition on American fashion

Fashion-lovers may want to note the dates of the Costume Institute in New York's next major exhibition - a two-parter that focuses on American fashion. In celebration of the first opening, a more intimate version of the Met Gala will take place on 13 September, pending government guidelines.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that the exhibitions will take place in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The first exhibition is In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, and it is scheduled to open in September 2021 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center. It will celebrate the Costume Institute’s 75th anniversary and will feature a fictional American home constructed of transparent walls that intersect and overlap. Examples of 20th- and 21st-century fashion will be displayed, reflecting the customs and behaviors of the imagined occupants.

The Veil Flag exhibit from an exhibition at the Met Museum in New York

Designs by pioneers of American sportswear will be displayed alongside works by a diverse group of contemporary designers. They will illustrate a shifting emphasis in American fashion defined by a range of feelings - fear, delight, loneliness, happiness, etc.

Part two is called In America: An Anthology of Fashion, and it will open in May 2022 at the American Wing period rooms and explore the development of American fashion. It will feature women’s and men’s historical and contemporary dress in vignettes installed in period rooms, dating from the 18th century to the present.

In America: A Lexicon of Fashion will run from 18 September 2021 to 5 September 2022 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center. In America: An Anthology of Fashion will run from 5 May 2022 to 5 September 2022 at the American Wing period rooms. The Met Gala will take place on 13 September, and is the Costume Institute's primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations and capital improvements. The Met Gala for part two of the exhibition will take place on 2 May 2022.

Further information can be found on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website here.