The Metropolitan Museum of Art is facing a copyright dispute from British artist Anouska Samms, who claims that a dress she holds the intellectual property rights to was included in a costume exhibition without credit or permission. Samms has publicly stated that the Met should “take responsibility.”
This is not a minor administrative oversight. It is a pattern.
Crediting artists is not a courtesy. It is the baseline.
Museums operate with enormous institutional authority. They decide what gets shown, how it gets framed, and whose name appears on the wall. When an artist’s work enters that space without credit, the institution benefits from the piece’s cultural weight while the creator disappears from the record entirely.
That is not curation. That is erasure with better lighting.
The fashion and costume world has a long and uncomfortable history with this. Garments are frequently treated as objects rather than authored works, separated from the hands and minds that made them. When those hands belong to an independent artist rather than a heritage house, the problem compounds. There is no PR team to chase the credit. There is no legal department to send the letter. There is just the artist, watching their work hang in one of the most visited museums on earth, unnamed.
Why this matters beyond fashion
This dispute is not really about a dress. It is about the relationship between institutions and the artists they depend on to remain culturally relevant. The Met’s costume collection is one of its most publicly beloved departments. It draws millions of visitors, generates enormous press coverage, sells merchandise, and inspires designers globally.
All of that cultural capital flows from the work of artists and makers. When those makers are not credited, the institution extracts value from creative labour while rendering the creator invisible. That is an ethical failure regardless of whether it also constitutes a legal one.
Digital and virtual artists should be paying attention.
For those of us working in digital and virtual spaces, this conversation is particularly relevant. Digital art, virtual builds, and online creative work are already vulnerable to being treated as content rather than authored practice. When major institutions cannot reliably credit a physical garment on display in their own galleries, the prospects for digital work being properly attributed in institutional contexts are sobering.
What accountability looks like
Samms is right that the Met should take responsibility. That means more than an apology. It means reviewing how works enter the collection process, ensuring IP checks are part of exhibition planning rather than an afterthought, and creating clear, accessible routes for artists to raise concerns before a show opens, not after.
Large institutions have the resources to get this right. The question is whether they have the will.
Artist rights are not optional. They are not a bureaucratic inconvenience. They are the foundation on which legitimate cultural institutions are supposed to stand.
Sources and further reading
Core dispute sources
The Art Newspaper, British artist says the Met “should take responsibility” for dress copyright dispute
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/05/19/british-artist-says-the-met-should-take-responsibility-for-dress-copyright-dispute
The Times, The Met museum’s hairdress is a copy of mine, says British artist
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/anouska-samms-metropolitan-museum-of-art-nmzcwk38d
Artforum, Artists Spar Over Credit for Dress in Met’s Costume Art Show
https://www.artforum.com/news/artists-spar-over-credit-for-dress-in-the-met-1234750380/
Artnet, Authorship Dispute Erupts Over “Hair Dress” at the Met’s Costume Institute Show
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/met-costume-institute-samms-hadari-dress-credit-2772663
WWD, A Dress Made With Human-looking Hair at the Met Prompts Debate
https://wwd.com/pop-culture/culture-news/anouska-samms-human-hair-dress-met-debate-saraabnde-1238954961/
Plagiarism Today, 3 Count: Hair Dress
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/05/19/3-count-hair-dress/
Use The Art Newspaper for the strongest version of Samms’s public position, especially the line that the Met should “take responsibility.” It reports that Samms claims a dress she has IP over appears in the Met’s costume exhibition without credit.
Use The Times for the most detailed legal/IP framing: Samms claims the exhibited silk version closely mirrors an earlier collaborative dress, that she holds rights over the textile/fabric design, and that the dispute involves credit, permission, and compensation.
Use Artnet, Artforum, and WWD for broader art/fashion-world coverage and the authorship dispute between Anouska Samms and Yoav Hadari. Artnet reports that the Met had previously expressed interest in acquiring the earlier Hair Dress before plans fell through, while the later exhibited work appeared under Hadari’s name.
The Met, Costume Institute, and institutional context
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, official site
https://www.metmuseum.org/
The Met, The Costume Institute
https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-costume-institute
The Met, Costume Art exhibition
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/costume-art
The Met, Collection Areas: Costume Institute
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?department=8
Met Gala, background and Costume Institute context
https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-gala
Use these only in an institutional context: the Met’s Costume Institute is a major public-facing department, and the Met Gala serves as a high-profile fundraiser and cultural publicity machine for its costume exhibitions. Do not use these to prove Samms’s claims. Use the dispute reporting for that. Tiny but important citation goblin. 🧷
Artist rights, copyright, and moral rights context
UK Government, Intellectual Property Office, Copyright
https://www.gov.uk/copyright
UK Government, Intellectual Property Office, Ownership of copyright works
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ownership-of-copyright-works
UK Government, Intellectual Property Office, Moral rights
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-rights-granted-by-copyright#moral-rights
Design and Artists Copyright Society, Artist’s Resale Right and copyright resources
https://www.dacs.org.uk/
Design and Artists Copyright Society, Copyright for artists
https://www.dacs.org.uk/for-artists/copyright-licensing
Artists’ Union England, Copyright resources
https://www.artistsunionengland.org.uk/
Creative Commons, Attribution explained
https://creativecommons.org/use-remix/attribution/
World Intellectual Property Organisation, Copyright
https://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/
World Intellectual Property Organisation, Traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, and IP
https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/
Use the UK IPO and DACS to make the general point that copyright and attribution are not fluffy courtesies. The UK framework recognises copyright ownership and moral rights, including the right to be identified as the author in certain circumstances. Keep this in general terms, not a definitive legal judgment on the Met dispute, because cross-border IP law is a swamp even for a law degree. 🐊
Fashion, authorship, labour, and credit
The Fashion Law, Fashion Law and intellectual property archive
https://www.thefashionlaw.com/category/legal/ip/
The Fashion Law, Copyright protection in fashion
https://www.thefashionlaw.com/
Business of Fashion, Fashion and intellectual property
https://www.businessoffashion.com/
Victoria and Albert Museum, Fashion collection
https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion
Victoria and Albert Museum, Fashion in motion
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/fashion-in-motion
Vogue Business, Fashion, technology, and IP coverage
https://www.voguebusiness.com/
Fashion Revolution, Who made my clothes?
https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/
Use these to support the wider argument that fashion and costume are often treated as objects, trends, or brand outputs rather than as authored creative labour. For your post, this supports the line that garments are frequently separated from the hands and minds that made them.
Digital and virtual artists, authorship, and attribution
Tate, Digital Art
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/d/digital-art
V&A, Digital Art
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/digital-art
Tate, Preserving Immersive Media
https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/projects/preserving-immersive-media
Rhizome, ArtBase
https://artbase.rhizome.org/wiki/Main_Page
Rhizome, Preservation
https://rhizome.org/preservation/
Electronic Arts Intermix, Online resources
https://www.eai.org/webpages/1147
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Career Documentation for the Visual Artist
https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/career-documentation-for-the-visual-artist
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Career Documentation for the Visual Artist PDF
https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/uploads/pdf/Career-Documentation-Guide-2022.pdf
Use these for the section connecting Samms’s case to digital and virtual artists. The logic is solid: if institutions struggle to credit a physical garment in a major gallery, digital and virtual works are even more vulnerable to being flattened into “content” unless documentation, authorship, metadata, and provenance are handled properly.
Best short source section
The Art Newspaper, British artist says the Met “should take responsibility” for dress copyright dispute
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/05/19/british-artist-says-the-met-should-take-responsibility-for-dress-copyright-dispute
The Times, The Met museum’s hairdress is a copy of mine, says British artist
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/anouska-samms-metropolitan-museum-of-art-nmzcwk38d
Artforum, Artists Spar Over Credit for Dress in MMet’sCostume Art Show
https://www.artforum.com/news/artists-spar-over-credit-for-dress-in-the-met-1234750380/
Artnet, Authorship Dispute Erupts Over “Hair Dress” at the Met’s Costume Institute Show
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/met-costume-institute-samms-hadari-dress-credit-2772663
WWD, A Dress Made With Human-looking Hair at the Met Prompts Debate
https://wwd.com/pop-culture/culture-news/anouska-samms-human-hair-dress-met-debate-saraabnde-1238954961/
Plagiarism Today, 3 Count: Hair Dress
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/05/19/3-count-hair-dress/
The Met, The Costume Institute
https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-costume-institute
UK Government, Intellectual Property Office, Copyright
https://www.gov.uk/copyright
UK Government, Intellectual Property Office, Moral rights
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-rights-granted-by-copyright#moral-rights
Design and Artists Copyright Society, Copyright for artists
https://www.dacs.org.uk/for-artists/copyright-licensing
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Career Documentation for the Visual Artist
https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/career-documentation-for-the-visual-artist
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