The Metropolitan Museum of Art has officially unveiled the dress code for the Met Gala 2026— and it promises a night of high-concept creativity.
This year’s directive, “Fashion Is Art,” will guide guests as they ascend the steps of the Met on 4 May 2026. The theme accompanies the Costume Institute’s upcoming spring exhibition, titled Costume Art, which explores fashion as an embodied art form and examines the dressed body across centuries of art history.
If past galas are any indication, the red carpet is poised to transform into a living gallery.
A dialogue between fashion and fine art
According to the Met, the dress code invites guests “to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.”
Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute, described fashion as the “common thread” connecting the museum’s galleries.
“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Bolton said in a statement.
The exhibition will present garments from the Costume Institute alongside artworks from across the Met’s vast collection, positioning clothing as a creative medium equal to painting and sculpture.
The show will also inaugurate the museum’s new 12 000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, marking a significant expansion of the institute’s exhibition space.
An influential lineup of co-chairs
The 2026 gala will be co-chaired by Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour — a formidable quartet representing music, sport, film and fashion.
Beyoncé’s return is particularly notable. Her last Met Gala appearance in 2016 delivered one of the evening’s most talked-about looks, underscoring her reputation for bold, sculptural interpretation.
Longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour will continue to helm the event, with additional members of the host committee including Zoë Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, Misty Copeland, Lena Dunham and others. Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello is also confirmed as part of the gala’s host committee leadership.
Expect sculptural silhouettes and conceptual storytelling
With “Fashion Is Art” as the prompt, designers and attendees are expected to lean into dramatic tailoring, archival couture, wearable installations and avant-garde silhouettes.
The dress code encourages guests to treat the body as a blank canvas — a theme that opens the door to interpretation rooted in both historical reference and contemporary innovation.
In recent years, the Met Gala has rewarded bold risk-taking, with attendees transforming thematic directives into cultural moments. The 2026 theme signals a return to intellectual glamour — one that prioritises craftsmanship, symbolism and artistic dialogue.
A night where fashion becomes an exhibition
The Met Gala, held annually on the first Monday in May, serves as the primary fundraiser for the Costume Institute. While the parameters are announced months in advance, Wintour has previously acknowledged that final outfit choices remain largely under wraps until guests step onto the red carpet.
For 2026, however, the brief is clear: fashion will not simply be worn — it will be interpreted.
When the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art become a runway on 4 May, the expectation is not merely spectacle, but living masterpieces.
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