Metropolitan Opera Brings Costume Design to Center Stage in New Exhibit

By Rachel Katz

Published October 9, 2025 at 5:55 AM EDT

A sketch of the gown designed by Cecil Beaton for Birgit Nilsson in the 1961 Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini's Turandot. Both the sketch and the costume are on display at the Metropolitan Opera's Behind the Seams exhibit. — A sketch of the gown designed by Cecil Beaton for Birgit Nilsson in the 1961 Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini's *Turandot*, one of the items on display at the Metropolitan Opera's Behind the Seams exhibit.

A Tempo (10/11) offers a peek into the Metropolitan Opera's exhibit featuring costumes and sketches spanning nearly 150 years.

The Metropolitan Opera has put together its largest-ever exhibit focused on costumes from its archives, with more than 20 gowns, uniforms and other garments that stretch back to the late 1800s.

All the items on display, including sketches and photographs, are from previous productions of opera that the Met is staging this season, such as the exquisite red velvet and shimmering gold gown from its 1937 production of La Traviata, worn by Brazilian soprano Bidú Sayão, costumes worn by Franco Corelli and Birgit Nilsson from Turandot, and the Queen of the Night costume designed by Marc Chagall for The Magic Flute in 1967.

Brazilian soprano Bidú Sayão as Violetta, from a 1937 production of La Traviata, in a gown now on display at the Metropolitan Opera.

A Tempo host Rachel Katz sat down with the Met’s Director of Archives, Maurice Wheeler to talk about the exhibit and what the designs and details add to the storytelling aspect of opera.