The Met’s exhibition on catholicism and fashion opens on May 10th

The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s spring exhibition, “Heavenly Bodies: fashion and the Catholic imagination”, opens this Thursday, May 10th. The exhibition, which will examine fashion’s relationship with the devotional practices and traditions of catholicism, will remain on view until October 8th.

Papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, some of which have never been seen outside the Vatican, will be on display alongside creations from Cristobal Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy and Thierry Mugler, among many others. The costumes will occupy the medieval galleries, the Anna Wintour Costume Center and the Met Cloisters.

FashionUnited is set to attend the opening of the exhibition and will be posting an insider review.

Pictures: Left: El Greco, Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara (1541–1609), ca. 1600, oil on canvas; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.5); Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right: Evening Coat, Cristobal Balenciaga for House of Balenciaga, autumn/winter 1954–55; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Bryon C. Foy, 1957 (C.I.57.29.8); Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Digital Composite Scan by Katerina Jebb.