Mannequins of Different Sizes? The Met Gala Exhibition Makes Space for Diverse Bodies
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
NEW YORK — On a hot and humid summer day in Brooklyn in 2025, haute couture artist and designer Michaela Stark found herself in a studio surrounded by 175 cameras for a photo shoot unlike any she had done before. Wearing only her signature corset—a garment that shapes and compresses the flesh—Stark stood at the center of a circle as the cameras captured every angle of her body simultaneously. This was part of an intricate process known as photogrammetry. The goal: to scan her body and create a mannequin—three, in fact—to be displayed at one of the world's most prestigious museums: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). And not just anywhere, but during the Met Gala. 'It was definitely a somewhat unsettling experience,' Stark recalls, describing the moment as 'intimate and vulnerable.' However, she adds with a touch of humor, 'There’s something about being naked on a 40-degree day, wrapped in a corset that hides absolutely nothing, that somehow takes all the discomfort out of the situation.' These mannequins—along with others based on real models, like Stark—will be part of 'Costume Art,' the museum’s upcoming spring exhibition from the Costume Institute, set to debut with the dazzling gala on May 4. According to curator Andrew Bolton, this initiative is part of an effort to incorporate an element of 'body positivity' into an exhibition that examines the representation of the dressed body in art throughout the centuries.