The Metropolitan Opera Opens Behind the Seams: Costuming the Met on September 21

The single largest archival costume exhibition presented at the Met, featuring more than 20 pieces connected to operas in the 2025–26 seasonOffering rare access to view the Met’s work on costume creation, restoration, and preservation

Exhibition Dates: September 21, 2025–June 6, 2026
Exhibition Location: The Metropolitan Opera House, Founders Hall, North and South Galleries, Concourse Level 

New York, NY (September 18, 2025)—The Metropolitan Opera announced today Behind the Seams: Costuming the Met, the largest costume exhibition in the company’s history, on view from September 21, 2025, through June 6, 2026.

The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to step inside the world of operatic costume design, tracing the evolution of the company’s early reliance on stock costumes to the establishment of its world-class costume department. Drawing from nearly a century and a half of artistry, Behind the Seams features garments dating from the late 19th century to the present day.

“Costumes are among the most powerful storytellers in opera. They carry the history of the company and the artistry of the stage in every stitch,” said Maurice Wheeler, Director of Archives. “Behind the Seams allows audiences to experience the beauty and craftsmanship of garments that have shaped the Met’s legacy for more than a century.”

Highlights include costumes once worn by legendary singers, such as the iconic gown designed by Cecil Beaton for dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson in the 1961 production of Puccini’s Turandot. Visitors to the exhibition will also encounter garments and other costume elements from operas including Bizet’s Carmen, Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment, Verdi’s La Traviata, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and more.

In addition to the physical costumes, the exhibition showcases archival photographs, original sketches, and behind-the-scenes imagery that illuminate the creative process and technical mastery of costume design. Rare designs by Ukrainian American designer Valentina and visionary artist Marc Chagall further underscore the range of influences that have shaped the Met’s productions.

The exhibition will be available for public viewing, with a ticket to any performance, in the north and south galleries of Founders Hall on the opera house’s Concourse level, from the opening of the 2025–26 season.