For more updates about the The BoF 500 subscribe to the Daily Digest newsletter

For more updates about the The BoF 500 subscribe to the Daily Digest newsletter

{alt missing} Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Andrew Bolton

Wendy Yu Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York

The approachable academic behind some of the biggest Met Gala themes combines his flawless fashion knowledge with an engaging demeanour.

Biography

As curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute since 2006, Andrew Bolton is recognised for having spearheaded some of the most groundbreaking and innovative fashion exhibitions in the museum’s history. Most noted for the phenomenally successful "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty"  retrospective in 2011, Bolton has also overseen the Rai Kawakubo exhibition in 2017, as well as the successful "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," which has attracted over 1 million visitors, making it the museum's third most popular exhibit ever, and featured objects from the Vatican Collection alongside designs by Gianni Versace, John Galliano for Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Bolton also curated the 2019 exhibit "Camp: Notes on Fashion."

A graduate of social anthropology from the University of East Anglia, Bolton spent nine years at the Victoria & Albert museum in London before decamping for New York. In 2002 he joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as an Associate Curator of the Costume Institute, and in 2005 it was announced that he would replace the retiring Harold Koda as Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute.

A celebrated curator, Bolton has been awarded the "Best Design Show" award by the International Association of Art Critics for an exhibition on couturier Paul Poiret. In 2009, Bolton was awarded with the AIGA Design Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award for "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" catalogue. In 2017, Bolton received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Art.

Bolton lives on the Upper West Side, New York with his partner, the designer Thom Browne .

Career

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Curator, The Costume Institute

2001 - Present

New York, United States

Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

1993 - 2001

London, United Kingdom

Education

University of East Anglia

University of East Anglia

Vital Statistics

Nationality

United Kingdom

Location
United States
Member since
2013

Similar Profiles

Aishwarya Subramanyam

Former Editor-in-Chief, Elle India

Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott

Photographers, Mert & Marcus

Jamie Hawkesworth

Photographer

Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari

Co-Founders, Toiletpaper


What is The BoF 500?

The people shaping the global fashion industry, curated by the editors of The Business of Fashion, based on nominations and on-the-ground intelligence from around the world.