Models define eras in fashion and pop culture as much as clothing and designers do. Each decade has its icons, and the Models As Muse: Embodying Fashion exhibit, which opens at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art next week, features photographs of models from 1947 to 1997. The fifties are the age of haute couture; the sixties display the "Youthquake," with photographs of Peggy Moffitt and Twiggy; and the rise of all-American models like Jerry Hall dominates the seventies portion. The late eighties and nineties chronicle the rise of the supermodel — Linda, Naomi, and Christy — while the mid-nineties see the shift to grunge heroin chic, as epitomized by Kate Moss. Can't wait to see that much beauty in one place? Click ahead to preview the exhibition. And tune back in Monday night for a red-carpet gallery of the Met gala, plus video and more on the exhibit.

The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, May 6, 2009 – August 9, 2009. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, at 82nd St. (212-535-7710); T–Th (9:30–5:30), F, S (9:30–9), Su (9:30– 5:30), M (closed).