Met Museum's Costume Institute to Reopen with Charles James Exhibition, May-Aug 2014

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that the inaugural exhibition of the newly renovated Costume Institute in spring 2014 will examine the career of legendary 20th-century Anglo-American couturier Charles James (1906-1978). Charles James: Beyond Fashion, on view from May 8 through August 10, 2014 (preceded on May 5 by The Costume Institute Benefit), will be presented in two locations-The Costume Institute's new galleries as well as special exhibitions galleries on the Museum's first floor. The exhibition will explore James's design process and his use of sculptural, scientific, and mathematical approaches to construct revolutionary ball gowns and innovative tailoring that continue to influence designers today.

"Charles James considered himself an artist, and approached fashion with a sculptor's eye and a scientist's logic," said Mr. Campbell. "As such, the Museum, and in particular, the new Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery in The Costume Institute, offer the ideal setting in which to contextualize the complexity of James's work."

In celebration of The New Costume Institute and the exhibition, the Museum's Costume Institute Benefit will take place on Monday, May 5, 2014. The evening's Chair will be Aerin Lauder. Co-Chairs will be Bradley Cooper, Oscar de la Renta, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, and Anna Wintour. The décor for the 2014 Benefit will be produced by Raul Avila for the eighth consecutive year. This event is The Costume Institute's main source of annual funding for exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements.

"Charles James was a wildly idiosyncratic, emotionally fraught fashion genius who was also committed to teaching," said Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. "He dreamt that his lifetime of personal creative evolution and the continuous metamorphosis of his designs would be preserved as a study resource for students. In our renovatEd Galleries, we will fulfill his goal, and illuminate his design process as a synthesis of dressmaking, art, math, and science."

The exhibition will take place from May 8th to August 10th, 2014. Admission prices are $25.00 for adults, $17.00 for seniors (65 and over), and $12.00 for students. Members and children under 12 accompanied by adult are free. Express admission may be purchased in advance at www.metmuseum.org/visit.

For more information, call (212) 535-7710 or visit www.metmuseum.org.