Museums as designer showplaces

The designer gowns at Sunday’s Academy Awards have one night of fame. Fans who want to keep the high-fashion conversation flowing will find inspiration at these five museums.

New York

In 2018, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute looked to medieval Catholic traditions to inspire its annual spring exhibition. Now it’s embracing how campiness affects fashion. The 175 objects will include designs by Rudi Gernreich, Gucci, Karl Lagerfeld and others. It opens May 9, preceded by the Met Gala. Info: bit.ly/campnoteson fashion

Los Angeles

Costumes will play a starring role in the flashy new Renzo Piano-designed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures taking shape at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The museum’s collection includes the striped suit Jack Nicholson wore in 1974’s “Chinatown.” A pair of ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) also is among the 2,500 items that promise to take visitors inside the movies when the museum opens later this year. Info: academymuseum.org

London

In the 1960s, Mary Quant gave London girls plastic knee-high boots, miniskirts and ribbed tights. Terence Conran designed a shop for her. Together they shaped the look of a new youth culture.“Swinging London: A Lifestyle Revolution” at the Fashion and Textile Museum tells the story of how fashion, furniture, ceramics and other design elements changed a generation. The show runs until June 2. Info: bit.ly/swinginglondon show

Milan, Italy

Info: bit.ly/armanimuseum

Paris

Through the end of the year, 50 haute couture YSL designs are on display at Musée Yves Saint Laurent, including the famed Mondrian dresses (autumn-winter 1965) and gowns made in collaboration with sculptor Claude Lalanne. Info: bit.ly/yslmuseum