2026 Met Gala Features Costume Art Theme

Celebrities and designers gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Monday, May 4, for the 2026 Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute. The event, held on the first Monday in May, featured the theme "Costume Art" tied to the institute's new exhibition exploring the relationship between clothing and the human body through historical and contemporary pieces organized by body types such as the naked, classical, pregnant and aging forms. The dress code, "Fashion Is Art," prompted interpretations ranging from sculptural gowns to painted fabrics.

Co-chairs Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour led the evening. Beyoncé, attending for the first time in a decade, arrived with husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy, 14, in a gem-encrusted Olivier Rousteing gown for Balmain featuring skeletal motifs, a crown and dramatic train. Kidman wore a red beaded Chanel column gown with feather details and brought her 17-year-old daughter, Sunday Rose, despite a policy since 2018 restricting attendance to those 18 and older. Williams donned a black gown with a silver jewel-encrusted neckpiece, while Wintour appeared in a feathery custom...