Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination

 Staged across two venues – the Met Fifth Avenue, and uptown at The Met Cloisters, this thematic exhibition will feature a dialogue between fashion and masterworks of medieval art in The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism.

A group of papal robes and accessories from the Vatican will travel to the United States to serve as the cornerstone of the exhibition, highlighting the enduring influence of liturgical vestments on designers. In addition, more than 150 ensembles, primarily womenswear, from the early 20th century to the present will be shown in the Byzantine and medieval galleries, part of the Robert Lehman Wing, and at The Met Cloisters alongside medieval art from The Met collection, providing an interpretative context for fashion’s engagement with Catholicism. The presentation situates these designs within the broader context of religious artistic production to analyse their connection to Christianity and to the Catholic imagination. Find out more about the ‘Heavenly Bodies’ exhibition from the Met’s website.