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May 1 to May 4—the most fashion-packed four-day period…ever?
Starting today, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has finally landed in theaters, and the first Monday in May (a.k.a. the 2026 Met Gala) is mere days away. And while those are both exciting happenings in the world of fashion, we recognize that for some it may be nice to step away and remember that the month—the very precipice of summer—also brings a host of openings, happenings, and goings-on, all available to the vast majority of us not attending fashion’s biggest night. That leaves plenty of New York City to sink our teeth into. With that in mind, we’re bringing you a little Met Gala counterprogramming.
As you may have heard, this year’s exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is “Costume Art,” which bridges the gap between fashion and fine art, focusing on the body as a dressed form. The exhibition will officially open to the public on May 10, but there is still plenty of art to see between now and then (and beyond!). Quite a few masters are on view too. Check out Dalí’s greatest hits on the brooding walls of Di Donna, including Untitled (Dreams of Venus), or Matisse’s bold colors and dynamic forms at Acquavella Galleries. Armory Show renegade and modernist prankster Marcel Duchamp is on view at MoMA; meanwhile, Polaroids by the father of pop culture, Andy Warhol, are now up at the Whitney. Likewise, you can revel in Keith Haring’s formative years as a graffiti savant at The Brant Foundation in the East Village.
Lovers of contemporary and emerging works, we’ve got you. Stop by the inaugural Conductor Art Fair in Brooklyn (until May 3) for a selection of work from the global majority and Indigenous nations—that is, artists from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. At Galerie Sardine, catch a glimpse of Joline Kwakkenbos, a queer Dutch artist who uses portraiture to explore her identity and experience. If by then you aren’t gallery’d out, up your whimsy at “Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City” at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, which is accompanied by a reading list of magic-related texts.
Stagewise, people are buzzing about the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of The Rocky Horror Show (seen in the pages of this very magazine!). Grab a ticket (if you can), and do the time warp again. Or tap a toe into the experimental dance scene at La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival (through May 10).
If snacking on popcorn in a darkened movie theater is more your thing, you’re very much in luck. This month brings multiple film festivals to the city, including the Lower East Side Film Festival (on until May 4), which will reunite Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, and other cast members of the cult film Ghost World for a 25th-anniversary screening. Elsewhere downtown, check out a documentary at the IFC Center’s Doc NYC Selects until May 5 or a special series of films about history’s greatest painters (Picasso, Munch, etc.) at Metrograph.
In Brooklyn, there’s the Coney Island Film Festival. (While you’re there, why not make it a doubleheader and catch a Cyclones game?) In Queens, the First Look festival at the Museum of the Moving Image is on until May 3, but you can still catch its ongoing exhibitions, including a comprehensive look at the life and legacy of The Muppets’ Jim Henson and “Overexposed: Art, Technology, and the Body.” (Bodies! They’re trending!)
In other words, there’s lots to do that isn’t watching The Devil Wears Prada 2 or gearing up for the spectacle that is the Met Gala. Friends, the world is your oyster. Go out there and take advantage.
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