The Art Exhibitions Worth Traveling to Europe For This May

NEW YORK CITY

Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1983, the Metropolitan Museum in New York hosted the first
retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent; under the guidance of Diana
Vreeland, fashion asserted itself as a true art form. In 2026, while the Victoria and Albert Museum in London celebrates Schiaparelli, the Met’s prestigious Costume Institute (housed within the Condé M. Nast Galleries), whose archives hold over 35,000 garments and accessories, presents an exceptional journey through a brand-new, 12,000-square-foot space. In a new exhibition, Costume Art, nearly four hundred works are on display, drawn from the museum’s entire collection. From Egyptian bas-relief to a Saint Laurent gown designed by Anthony Vaccarello; from a Meiji-era Japanese gourd to a piece by Erdem; from a juxtaposition of a work by Chiharu Shiota and a dress by Olivier Theyskens to a sculpture by Jean Arp facing a design by Duran Lantink—the dialogue between art and fashion unfolds in a prolific and polychromatic manner, following in the wake of the Met Gala. One year after the triumph of, New York offers a more radical celebration of creativity elevated to its absolute zenith.

Costume Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, May 10, 2026 – January 10, 2027, metmuseum.org

SAINT-PAUL DE VENCE

Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges at the Fondation Maeght

The year 1965 marked the moment of the “Courrèges bombshell”: The era of white boots and miniskirts was heralded as a journey to the moon. Models danced and smiled, celebrating the energy of the ’60s, an energy that Peter Knapp brought into the spotlight, becoming the accomplice of the “man in white” (André Courrèges) as he released his silhouettes like so many balloons into space. Later, in 1978, Knapp photographed models within the Maeght Foundation, among the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti. Now the flamboyant photographer returns, this time to the gallery walls, in Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges, with an Op and Pop retrospective that gives wings to time itself.

Peter Knapp: The Era of Courrèges, Fondation Marguerite et Aimé
Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France, May 14 – November 8, 2026,
fondation-maeght.com.

PARIS, FRANCE

Azzedine Alaïa and Christian Dior, Two Masters of Haute Couture at the Fondazione Azzedine Alaïa

Born in Tunis, Tunisia, Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017) grew up with a
dream: to become a couturier. When he first arrived in Paris, in 1956,
he joined Christian Dior as a pattern maker, a position he would hold
for only a few days, though his admiration for Dior endured. More than 1,500 people worked within the walls of Dior’s atelier at 30 Avenue Montaigne, in front of which tourists from all over the world still gather to have their pictures taken. The triumph of Dior’s New Look (1947) had cemented a vocation in Alaïa. Cinched waists and rounded shoulders would form his stylistic alphabet. Now, in Paris, two exhibitions, one at the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation and the other at the Galerie Dior, reveal his lesser-known facet: that of a fashion collector. “Christian Dior’s creations bear witness to the ceaseless quest Azzedine Alaïa constantly pursued,” says Olivier Saillard, director of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation and curator of both exhibitions. “In search of the mysteries hidden within dresses, the delicate structures that make diaphanous pencoats ‘stand tall,’ he expertly assembled the very objects of his adolescent daydreams.” Within Alaïa’s extraordinary collection, accumulated since 1968, Christian Dior figures most prominently, represented by over five hundred pieces. While the Galerie Dior on Rue François 1er naturally gives pride of place to Dior’s designs, the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation in the Marais district stages them in a visual dialogue with Alaïa’s creations, testifying to their shared affinities—from flamboyant red to panther print. Sublime!

Azzedine Alaïa’s Dior CollecBon, La Galerie Dior, Paris, until May 17,
2026, galeriedior.com

Azzedine Alaïa and ChrisBan Dior: Two Masters of Haute Couture,
Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, Paris, until June 21, 2026,
fondationazzedinealaia.org