The Met replaces its canceled Galliano exhibit with a show about everyday clothes.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has announced “extraOrdinary: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday” as its Spring 2027 exhibition, replacing the cancelled “John Galliano: Horizons.” The new exhibition marks a sharp turn from the extravagant couture the Galliano show would have featured. It will explore how designers transform familiar garments, materials, and objects, from jeans, white T-shirts, and puffer coats to paper, plastic, and metal, while also considering how meaning develops through use and care. Curator in charge Andrew Bolton said he committed to the theme quickly because it raises questions of “value and consumption and resourcefulness” and “makes us question what we overlook and what we discard.” The gala’s dress code has not yet been announced, leaving open the question of whether attendees will dress down for the first time.
Cecily Brown’s student-era mural resurfaces at the New York Studio School.
A renovation of the New York Studio School in Greenwich Village has uncovered long-hidden murals by Cecily Brown and Robert E. Locher. The landmark building at 8 West 8th Street was once Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s studio and the original home of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Led by Baird Architects under director Matthew Ritchie, the $2.2 million first phase doubles the school’s public exhibition space and adds an accessible lecture and performance hall. The work is set for completion this fall, and a second phase begins in the spring. Crews were instructed to watch for buried artworks and found both murals within 24 hours. Brown’s playfully erotic piece, painted when she was a student in the 1990s, sits in the expanded main-floor gallery behind a shallow cabinet that Ritchie likens to a “secret room.” Two Locher murals commissioned by Whitney for her dining room will now flank a new restroom. “Now it will be the most historic bathroom in New York,” Ritchie said.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has named the winners of its 2026 Awards for Artists.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation announced the ten recipients of its 2026 Awards for Artists. Among England’s largest honors of its kind, the annual awards give each winner £75,000 (about $101,000) with no strings attached. As in recent years, the cohort is split evenly between visual artists and composers. The visual artists include sculptor Linda Bell, known for large-scale interactive works; installation artist Racheal Crowther, who explores care and control; multidisciplinary artist Rory Pilgrim, whose work centers marginalized communities; multidisciplinary artist Georgina Starr, who investigates the ethereal and transient; and painter and installation artist Hayley Tompkins. The composers are Olivia Chaney, Bushra El-Turk, Charlotte Keeffe, Daudi Matsiko, and Ayanna Witter Johnson.
The Royal Armouries has appointed BDP to design its £100 million expansion.
The Royal Armouries museum in Leeds has appointed architecture and design practice BDP to lead the next stages of its £100 million Waterfront Development at Leeds Dock. The project centers on a new 3,500-square-meter exhibition and events hall, which will more than double the museum’s existing facilities to provide more than 8,000 square meters of conference and events space. Plans also include a purpose-built venue for immersive experiences, along with new cultural, hospitality, and leisure spaces. The museum and its existing conference spaces will stay open during construction. Vicky Casey, head of BDP’s Leeds studio, said the project aims to bring people together “through new creative experiences, live interpretation, and the exchange of ideas.”
Pierpaolo Piccioli leaves Balenciaga after 16 months.
Pierpaolo Piccioli is leaving Balenciaga just 16 months after joining as creative director in July 2025, following mixed reviews of his collections and widespread rumors of his departure. Owner Kering said his successor will be announced shortly. Piccioli arrived after a long and celebrated tenure at Valentino, where he worked for years alongside Maria Grazia Chiuri, now creative director of Fendi. His Balenciaga couture debut in July, staged as an open-air midday show at Paris’ Cité Universitaire, sought to bring couture closer to everyday life. Kering wants to steer Balenciaga back toward the edgier, less romantic direction of the Demna era.
Attractive Distractions:
Rachel Gurjar hosted an intimate Diwali dinner to celebrate her debut cookbook.
The Fugees are seeking “voices, experiences, and reflections on hope” for a participatory Art Basel Miami Beach exhibition.
Cleaning The Last Judgment has shed new light on Michelangelo’s technique.
Maison Margiela and Gentle Monster reunite for a fourth collection built on deconstruction.
