The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York unveiled mannequins based on people with different body types during the Met Gala on May 4, 2026. The mannequins are part of “Costume Art,” a spring exhibition that opened to the public on May 10, 2026.

Andrew Bolton, a curator at the museum’s Costume Institute, said the new mannequins are meant to challenge the long history of displays centered on thin, able-bodied and standardized body types. Along with traditional mannequins, the show includes forms based on real people with different bodies and life experiences. The exhibition features about 400 items, with artworks and clothing displayed in pairs.

Among the models are Michaela Stark, an artist and couture designer known for body-positive corsetry, Sinéad Burke, an Irish disability activist, Aimee Mullins, an athlete and actor with prosthetic lower legs, and Aariana Rose Philip, a musician and model who uses a wheelchair. Nine real-life models were used to create 18 mannequins, while seven more represent body shapes such as pregnant bodies and thin male bodies.

To create the mannequins, the models’ bodies were scanned using photogrammetry, a process that uses many cameras to capture detailed images from every angle. The scans were then used to produce mannequins designed to fit the exhibition’s garments.

The museum says the 25 mannequins will remain in its permanent collection after the exhibition ends in January 2027. Bolton also said all the mannequins have polished steel surfaces like mirrors, allowing visitors to see themselves as well as the bodies each mannequin is meant to represent.