Anna Wintour Costume Center

The Anna Wintour Costume Center is a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses the collection of the Costume Institute. The center is named after Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue and chair of the museum's annual Met Gala since 1995. It was endowed by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. The curator is Andrew Bolton.

The center was formally opened by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama on May 5, 2014. Many famous people, such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, Zac Posen, Ralph Lauren, and Donatella Versace, were at the center's opening.

History

In 1902, Irene and Alice Lewisohn became teenage heiresses and decided to join other wealthy New York friends in community work. They began to spend time at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York, a community center devoted to the integration of immigrant families and since 1909 host to summer camps for girls and boys from underprivileged New York families. Alice, who acted in plays herself, began working as a drama teacher, while Irene devoted herself to dance productions. While at the Settlement House they also began to present performances and in 1915, the sisters joined Rita Wallach Morgenthau to build and found the Neighborhood Playhouse on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets, where between 1915 and 1927, the theater presented plays by Shaw, Joyce, and Dunsany.