It’s the first Monday of May in New York City, and as all fashion fans will know, on the tiered—and momentarily tented—steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 2026 Met Gala is underway.
As it does each year, the annual fundraiser gala celebrates the museum’s new spring Costume Institute exhibition. This year, the Institute is unveiling “Costume Art,” a show of nearly 400 artefacts that brings together garments from the Institute’s annals with artworks spanning 5,000 years of art history, held for the very first time in The Met’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries. The exhibition will explore the “centrality of the dressed body”, utilising the many depictions of the human form within the Met’s vast archives.
More on the 2026 Met Gala
And, of course, from every new exhibition, the most highly anticipated red carpet of the calendar year derives its own costume theme. As such, this year’s Met Gala dress code is “Fashion is Art,” and attendees and the designers dressing them have been invited to consider the many ways in which the human body is always fashion’s first, most intimate, and most inextricable canvas.
So what will this year’s crowd of actors, musicians, models, designers, and more wear on the red carpet? From works of walking art, to ensembles that put the body first and fabric second, this year’s subject is set to leave plenty of room for unique interpretations. Which, if you know the beauty of a wide-ranging Met Gala dress code, will likely also mean one of the most exciting red carpets to date.
As to who will be stepping their best fashion foot forward this year, one need not worry about the sheer level of stardom set to attend, courtesy of this year’s list of co-chairs alone. Joining Vogue’s Anna Wintour, the 2026 co-chairs are some of the biggest forces from the worlds of fashion, music, Hollywood, and sport: namely Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Beyoncé, who will be making her first Met Gala appearance in a decade.
Then, leading the 2026 Met Gala Host Committee are co-chairs Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz, with other members including Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Alex Consani, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Paloma Elsesser, Lisa, Chloe Malle, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, Lauren Wasser, Anna Weyant, A’ja Wilson, and Yseult—all of whom will be dressed in their own sartorial interpretation of the relationship between fashion, art, and the human form. Excited yet?
Below, we bring you everything the stars are wearing on the 2026 Met Gala red carpet, live from New York City.