Fashion’s glitziest night finally has its next muse! The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the 2026 Met Gala theme, and it’s going delightfully introspective. Mark 4 May in your calendar because “Costume Art” is the chosen theme, celebrating the blurred line between what we wear and what we call art.
The name might sound a bit self-referential (fashion examining fashion? Groundbreaking), but it’s a major moment for the Met.
This year’s gala coincides with the unveiling of the museum’s brand new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries — the Costume Institute’s shiny permanent home. It’s like fashion finally got the keys to the big house.
And now we’ve got the dress code to match. On the night, guests will be asked to follow the official 2026 Met Gala dress code: “Fashion Is Art”, a brief that’s basically begging people to treat their bodies like walking canvases.
What is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala, officially the Costume Institute Benefit, is fashion’s equivalent to the Olympics, if the Olympics were run by Anna Wintour and every event ended up on Instagram.
Held every year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it raises serious cash for the Costume Institute and opens its annual exhibition. Singles tickets can reportedly fetch US$75,000 and a table sets you back a cool $350,000. Designers and brands buy these spots, inviting their muses to wear outfits that reinterpret (or sometimes completely ignore) the night’s theme.
Met Gala theme vs dress code: what’s the difference?
For anyone still confused: the Met Gala theme inspires the exhibition inside the museum — this year it’s “Costume Art” — but the dress code is a more specific prompt for what people actually wear. As Andrew Bolton puts it in the Vogue announcement, the theme “addresses the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection”, focussing on how fashion and art intersect in the most literal way: they both need bodies to exist.
The dress code, which usually drops after the theme, gives all those A-listers a more pointed instruction for their red carpet looks. Think of the theme as the theory, and the dress code as the practice. The curators come up with the concept; the celebs come up with, well, content.
This year, the Met has locked in “Fashion Is Art” as the official dress code, directly tying the red carpet to what’s happening inside the galleries. Guests are being nudged to think about the many ways designers use the body as their starting point, rather than just slapping on “museum-core” and calling it a day.
What is the 2026 Met Gala theme?
So, what exactly does “Costume Art” mean? According to Bolton, it is “what connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body”.
“It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was, this epiphany… the dressed body is front and centre in every gallery you come across,” he continued.
And get ready for a bit of a mind-bender on the exhibition floor: “I’ve always wanted to try to bridge the gap between the viewer and the mannequin,” Bolton explained, describing the mirrored faces on mannequins designed for the showcase. This creative decision is meant to “facilitate empathy and compassion”. So if you end up feeling seen by a mannequin, blame Bolton.
At a press conference, he went further: “’Costume Art’ is a celebration of the body in all of its strengths and weaknesses; its resiliencies and continuities; its perfections, its imperfections, its idiosyncrasies and commonalities; and, above all, its sublime beauty, its wondrous complexity and its glorious and miraculous diversity.”
What is the 2026 Met Gala dress code?
We now know that the official 2026 Met Gala dress code is “Fashion Is Art”. The phrase mirrors the exhibition’s focus on the “dressed body” and its “indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear”, and basically invites guests to turn up in looks that could sit in a gallery just as easily as they do on a red carpet.
In practice, that could mean references to specific art movements or artworks, sculptural silhouettes, sheer layers, or pieces that play with anatomy and proportion. Expect some people to go full museum nerd, some to lean into surrealist drama, and at least one person to show up in something that looks like it was spray-painted on five minutes before the carpet.
Considering the theme, don’t be surprised if mirrored or anatomical designs make a red carpet splash, or if some attendees lean into historical or surreal references for maximum editorial effect.
Who will host the 2026 Met Gala?
The 2026 Met Gala co-chairs have finally been confirmed and, honestly, it’s a serve: Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and eternal gatekeeper of the steps, Anna Wintour. It’s Bey’s first Met appearance in 10 years, after she last floated up those stairs in 2016 wearing custom latex Givenchy for the Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology theme, so expectations are… high.
Venus is stepping into co-chair mode after a string of high-profile fashion moments, while Kidman is so back after her split from her ex Keith Urban, returning to her natural habitat as a long-time couture muse and campaign face. And Wintour, of course, is there because it’s literally her party.
Their job isn’t just to smile at the top of the stairs and pretend the dress doesn’t hurt. Co-chairs help shape everything from elements of the guest list to the overall mood of the night, as well as hosting, possibly performing and, most importantly, showing everyone else how to actually stick to the theme. In previous years, that role has gone to names like Zendaya, Harry Styles, Rihanna and Donatella Versace, so this is very much the varsity league of fashion.
Alongside the co-chairs, the gala’s host committee is stacked with names like Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie and Sam Smith, plus models, artists and athletes who basically live on moodboards. Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are also on board as lead sponsors and honorary chairs, which means Amazon money will be all over those stairs whether we like it or not.
So there you have it: the 2026 Met Gala is set to deliver high-concept looks and I’m sure some high drama, and classic carpet chaos — just the way we like it.
Lead image: Getty images
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