The highlights of the Met Gala 2026
Guests at the Met Gala, from Beyoncé to Naomi Osaka, did not play it safe on Monday. Celebrities presented custom works of art in homage to this year’s theme, “Fashion is art” (Fashion is art).
Beyoncé dazzled the audience in a custom sculptural dress by Olivier Rousteing, resembling a skeleton, with a train of cream and powder blue feathers, also wearing a diamond crown. The Grammy winner, accompanied by her husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy, stopped to pose with her family on the red carpet.
Osaka made a sensation in a spectacular white sculptural dress by Robert Wun, with exaggerated shoulders and adorned with red feathers, accompanied by a matching hat. A similar outfit by Wun is on display at the “Costume Art” exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, open to the public starting May 10.
Amidst the buzz surrounding “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, Met Gala co-chair Anna Wintour opted for a mint-colored outfit. Wintour’s ensemble included a feathered cape and a pearl-embroidered dress by Matthieu Blazy for Chanel, paired with her iconic bob cut and oversized sunglasses in a classic manner.
The other co-chairs of the evening, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, chose more understated outfits. Venus Williams wore a sparkling black dress with bare shoulders, accessorized with a dazzling gemstone necklace, paying homage to a portrait of herself by Robert Pruitt for the National Portrait Gallery.
Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the event sponsor, arrived in a fitted Schiaparelli dress, inspired by John Singer Sargent’s 1884 painting, “Madame X”.
Unlike last year’s blue carpet, this year’s seemed to have been deliberately forgotten by time. The carpet was scattered with overgrown tufts of grass exceeding stone steps, with trimmed hedges lining the side balustrade. Purple flowers in pots adorned the entrance of the carpet in large terracotta pots.
Among other celebrities who graced the steps of the Met, Rihanna, Bad Bunny, and Canadian actor from the series “Passionate Rivalry” Hudson Williams were notable attendees.
Previous gala dress codes paid tribute to creators and drew inspiration from literature. Last year, the art of couture was celebrated with the dress code “Tailored for you”.
This highly publicized event raises funds for the Met’s Costume Institute, and each year, the gala’s dress code is inspired by the spring exhibition of the Costume Institute.
The “Costume Art” exhibition, presented this spring, “explores representations of the dressed body,” as stated on the Met’s website.
