What extraORDINARY will explore

The announcement arrives months after a planned John Galliano retrospective for the Met Gala was cancelled amid a backlash focused on the designer's past. Instead of that show, the Costume Institute will stage extraORDINARY, an exhibition that, according to a press release, will “explore how designers rework familiar garments, everyday objects, and commonplace materials”. Its material range stretches from staples such as jeans, T-shirts and puffer coats to paper, plastic and metal.

• •The show examines how design reveals unexpected possibilities within everyday things
• •It focuses on recycling, upcycling and reuse
• •Tickets to last year's gala cost about $100,000, on a guest list personally overseen by Anna Wintour

Critics call the theme tone deaf

The reception has not been uniformly warm. Dana Thomas, author of Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, said the choice reinforces the message that the Costume Institute's team is highly out of touch, and called it tone deaf to take such ordinary garments and then show how fashion has co-opted them and added zeros to the price tag.

Thomas framed the theme as a missed opportunity to honour some of the biggest names who have died this year, including Dolly Parton and Bob Mackie - the designer behind the “naked” dress Cher wore to the Met Gala in 1974 and many of Parton's costumes.

Such a show, she argued, would have been enormous, made the museum a ton of money, won press goodwill and been loved by Americans and tourists - adding that fun is missing from the equation. The fashion school publication 1Granary was blunter, writing that the new theme proves fashion is sometimes either too controversial to exist or too boring to care about. Malique Morris, a correspondent at Line Sheet, traced his own underwhelm to the announcement coming in the wake of a Galliano exhibit.

The Galliano plan was scrapped after the backlash over the designer's history: he was found guilty of a hate crime in 2011 after a series of racist and antisemitic rants.

A defender of the concept

Not everyone is disappointed. Celebrity stylist and Vogue contributor Marian Kwei called the theme “very clever”, saying it seems very simple, but it's far from it - an incredible celebration of fashion design and what designers do with design itself.

For Morris, the everyday focus could yet pay off: “it could be a palette cleanser,” he said, “maybe a bit of a refresh”, with less peacocking and viral-moment chasing. Kwei sees risks for attendees, noting there are opportunities for missteps when the event is attended by people who are not really in touch with the context of the times, and called it going to be very interesting for the red carpet.

Who could fit the theme

The red carpet has already brushed against the poetics of the everyday. Recent gala looks point the way:

• •In 2024, Da’Vine Joy Randolph wore an all-denim creation by Zac Posen, creative director of Gap
• •At last year's gala, the Australian pop star Troye Sivan wore devoré-effect jeans by Prada
• •Model Bhavitha Mandava wore muslin-printed trousers made to look like blue jeans by Matthieu Blazy at Chanel at the same event

Designers whose practice echoes the theme may also fit. The Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson creates couture gowns out of belt buckles and old spoons. Kwei speculated that the Dutch designer Duran Lantink, who does “incredible things with everyday materials”, may be a good fit for extraORDINARY.

The dress code for the 3 May 2027 gala has not yet been announced, but it traditionally derives from the exhibition theme.