NEW YORK.- CHANEL —The Costume Institute’s major spring exhibition—will be presented in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Special Exhibition Galleries from May 5 to August 7, 2005. Nearly 34 years after the passing of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the spirit of the house of Chanel will be manifested this spring in an extraordinary presentation of iconic fashions from Coco Chanel to Karl Lagerfeld.

The exhibition and benefit for The Costume Institute are made possible by Chanel. Additional support has been provided by Condé Nast. Co-chairs for The Costume Institute Benefit Gala will be Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, Karl Lagerfeld, artistic director of Chanel, and Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman. H.R.H. The Princess of Hanover will serve as Honorary Chair.

“The work of Gabrielle Chanel, with its acknowledgment of the realities of women in the 20th century, was an elegantly conceptualized modernism,” said Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. “In creating a wardrobe for herself, Chanel invented an idea of the modern woman. The bare facts of Chanel’s life—deprived of the autobiographical embellishments she evolved over time and the conjecture of others—are dramatic, but spare. Therefore it is her work, which transcended class barriers and revolutionized the ideals of dress, that is the ultimate testament to her life. It is a great privilege for The Costume Institute to present this exhibition, CHANEL, a name that remains synonymous with uncompromising refinement and seductive flair.”

As one of the most recognized designers and couturiers of the 20th century, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971) has long been the subject of breathless mythologizing and hagiography. This was the direct consequence of her self-invention and self-promotion. Born in 1883, in Saumur, France, Chanel spent much of her early life in an orphanage. She ascended gradually to high society by socializing with aristocrats and political figures. She was an entertainer, a mistress of men of impeccable but diverse social and cultural standing, and a milliner who began to make dresses. The legend of Chanel, however, is necessarily based on the long shadow cast over fashion by her “Maison de Haute Couture.” It is the authority and mastery of her work, the resonance of her image of the modern woman, as articulated in her designs, and the autobiographical infusion of influences in her collections that finally confirms her iconic stature.

CHANEL will examine the history of the house of Chanel both thematically and chronologically. The exhibition will reveal ideas, techniques, and elements of biography as they were expressed in Chanel’s work. Period examples will be juxtaposed with the work of designer Karl Lagerfeld, who in 1983 revitalized the spirit and identity of the house. It is in Lagerfeld’s masterful and often irreverent citations of Chanel’s work, as well as his combination of influences from high and low culture, that her innovations— which have been so absorbed by the mainstream—are once again made legible. Through his interpretations and refinements, the historic importance of Chanel is both defined and asserted for the modern woman and the world in which she resides.

The exhibition will feature designs and accessories from the Museum’s Costume Institute collection, the Chanel Archives, and other international institutions, such as Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris, and will be organized by Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, and Andrew Bolton, Associate Curator, both from The Costume Institute, along with Olivier Saillard, Chargé de la Programmation du Musée de la Mode et du Textile, who will serve as Creative Consultant.

CHANEL, the book accompanying the exhibition, will be edited by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, will include a foreword by Karl Lagerfeld, and essays by Rhonda Garelick, Caroline Milbank, Nancy Troy, and others. The exhibition will also be featured on the Museum’s Web site (www.metmuseum.org).