Harold Koda
Quick Facts
Biography
Harold Koda (born January 3, 1950 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American fashion scholar, curator, and the former curator-in-chief of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Career
Koda had the opportunity to work alongside the maverick Diana Vreeland as an exhibition assistant for exhibitions such as The Glory of Russian Costume (1976), and Vanity Fair (1977). While at the costume institute, he curated or co-curated, among other blockbuster shows, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations (2012), "Charles James Beyond Fashion" (2014), and "Jacqueline de Ribes: The Art of Style" (2015)He retired from his position at the museum in 2016 and was succeeded in it by Andrew Bolton.Koda is the co-author of upwards of twenty books, including twelve catalogues for exhibitions held at the Metropolitan Museum.On May 5, 2016, Koda was given the "Pratt Fashion Lifetime Achievement Award" by Pratt Institute. The award was presented to him by Simon Doonan.
Koda appears in Andrew Rossi's 2016 documentary film "The First Monday in May" which is the staging of the Metropolitan Museum's annual Costume Institute Gala. He co-curated the 2009 Metropolitan Costume Institute exhibition, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.