May 1st to May 4th—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 counter-programming.

As you may have heard, this year’s exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is “Costume Art,” bridging the gap between fashion and fine art, with a focus on the body as a dressed form. The exhibition will officially open to the public on May 10th, 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 Gallery. Armory Show renegade and modernist prankster Marcel Duchamp is on view at MoMA; meanwhile, Polaroids from 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 (on until May 3rd) 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 Gallerie Sardine, catch a glimpse of Joline Kwakkenbos, a queer Dutch artist who uses her 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.

Stage-wise, 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 the LaMama Moves! Dance Festival (through May 10th).

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 4th), which will reunite Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, and more members of the cast 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 5th, 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 double-header and catch a Cyclones game?). In Queens, the “First Look” festival at the Museum of the Moving Image is on until May 3rd, but you can still catch their 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.