It’s the first Monday in May, meaning the 2026 Met Gala is officially underway.
The theme of this year is “Fashion Is Art,” celebrating The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s new spring exhibit, “Costume Art,” which pairs “garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.” A-list attendees are expected to arrive at the Upper East Side museum’s famed steps in looks that honor the idea that clothes can serve as time-transcending canvases.
This year’s event is co-hosted by Anna Wintour, alongside Beyoncé, actress Nicole Kidman, and tennis star Venus Williams. The host committee includes 24 high-profile names across the intersecting worlds of fashion, entertainment, art, and sports, including recently engaged Zoë Kravitz, actress Chase Sui Wonders, writer Lena Dunham, models Alex Consani and Adut Akech, and athlete Aimee Mullins. And the night’s honorary chairs are billionaire couple Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos.
The Bezoses snagging one of the gala’s premiere billings is the latest sign that the fashion world has begun to openly embrace Silicon Valley, and the deep-pockets that it brings. Tech companies including Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, and Snap are among those reported to have purchased a table to have access to the star-studded event.
Fashion’s biggest night serves as an annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute. With tables costing a reported $350,000 and individual tickets priced around $100,000, the event raised a record-breaking $31 million in 2025.
Scroll through our photo gallery to see some of the standout looks from this year’s red carpet.
This article was originally published on rollingstone.com.
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe breathtakingly embodied the night’s theme in a sculpture-esque design from Christian Siriano. Robotic butterflies flitted their wings on the singer’s head and shoulders as her mossy gown weaved together nature and technology, with cords and cables lining the dress. Always one of the night’s ones to watch, Monáe previously teamed up with Siriano for the Met Gala in 2019.
Beyoncé
She is that girl. After a 10-year hiatus, Beyoncé; has returned to the Met Gala and was greeted with a rapturous reception from onlookers. Serving as the night’s co-chair, Beyoncé; was among the last to arrive on the carpet. The superstar’s sheer gown was covered in diamonds outlining a skeleton. For added flair, she wore a feathered coat with a train as long as her list of hits. Making the night a family celebration, Beyoncé; was joined on the steps by husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue.
Cara Delevingne
As one of the official 2026 Met Gala livestream hosts, Cara Delevingne was one of the first arrivals on the Met steps. The model and actress went little black dress classic, with a flowing jet-black Ralph Lauren gown, complete with mesh sleeves, a mock turtleneck bodice, and a beaded back panel and train.
Nicole Kidman
As one of the night’s co-chairs, Nicole Kidman leaned into the attention in a sequined Chanel gown featuring a feathered drop waist. The French design house is being helmed by designer Matthieu Blazy, who was named as creative director in December 2024. Kidman walked the red carpet with Sunday Rose, her daughter with ex-husband Keith Urban.
Lauren Sanchez
Lauren Sánchez Bezos, a 2026 Met Gala co-chair, walked the steps early in a navy satin mermaid gown by Schiaparelli, inspired by John Singer Sargent painting “Madame X.” Bezos, who married billonaire Jeff Bezos last summer, teased the designer of her look earlier this week on the Today Show, saying she was “honored” when Anna Wintour called her and offered her co-chair this year. “These designers are true artists. Elsa Schiaparelli was best friends with Salvador Dalí. And Salvador Dalí’s medium was a canvas, and hers was, you know, clothing,” she said. “Does that help clear things up?
Venus Williams
Is that a star? A galaxy? No, it’s five-time Olympic medalist and tennis star Venus Williams in a sparkling Swarovski onyx mermaid gown. The gown takes direct inspiration from the painting commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, Robert Pruitt’s “Venus Williams, Double Portrait” (2022), and includes nods to the pay disparity for female tennis stars. “It reflects not just my journey but the legacy of those who came before me — especially pioneers like Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, who paved the way,” Williams told reporters. “It felt like a personal way to connect with ‘Costume Art’ — using fashion to tell a story about legacy and progress and honoring those who made it possible.”
Charli XCX
Charli XCX has officially said goodbye to Brat-green summer, and instead is channeling the moodiness of her Wuthering Heights soundtrack album with a custom Saint Laurent look. A strapless, semi-sheer black gown, the main feature is a delicate, seemingly handblown glass Iris flower snaking its way up the dress’ ruched bodice. The look was inspired by the Yves Saint Laurent’s 1988 couture show, which paid homage to Van Gogh’s Irises. “One of Yves’ favorite pieces, one of his favorite flowers, often given to his favorite muses,” Charli wrote of her look on Instagram.
Sam Smith
Go on, Sam, give us everything! The singer clearly understood the assignment, adding much-needed flair to the red carpet with a flowing, floor-length Christian Cowan gown, encrusted with tons of gems, intricate beading, and sparkling details. Smith and Cowan have been dating for a few years now, and this marks their third Met Gala collaboration. As if the romantic, robe-style garment weren’t enough, Smith topped it off with a dramatic feather fascinator, designed jointly by Cowan and Stephen Jones Millinery, and a jaw-dropping, multi-tier necklace by Cowan.
Bad Bunny
Alright, we’re not gonna lie, Benito had us scratching our heads at first when he appeared at the Met Gala in full abuelo drag. However, if you look at the Met Gala’s Costume Art exhibition details, one of the categories is the “Aging Body,” so we’re guessing the Puerto Rican superstar took that and time-hopped with it. (When someone on the red carpet asked how long it took him to get ready, he quipped “53 years.”) Plus the whole idea of his last album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS revolved around nostalgia and looking back wistfully at the passing of time. If he wants to bring the concept alive by turning into Grandad Bunny, we’re here for it.
Emma Chamberlain
Emma Chamberlain was an immediate stand-out of the night wearing a custom Mugler gown by Miguel Castro Freitas. Arriving early as Vogue’s special correspondent, Chamberlain looked like a hand-painted masterpiece come to life. Chamberlain said she and her stylist Jared Ellner dug into the fashion house’s iconic archival pieces for inspiration. “There is sort of this watercolor feel, and I love watercolor painting,” Chamberlain told Vogue. “But then also there’s a creepy, sort of ominous undertone to the gown, like the way that it moves. And that is very much my taste in art.”
Zoë Kravitz
Zoë Kravitz kept her ring finger tucked in her pocket as she posed arm-in-arm with her date for the evening, Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello. Kravitz wore an all-black sheer lace gown with a voluminous, exaggerated hip detail. The actress, recently engaged to musician Harry Styles, is a co-chair of the 2026 Met Gala Host Committee.
Doja Cat
Doja Cat showed less is more when she stepped onto the red carpet in a sleek, nude latex gown. Doja Cat is known for theatrics onstage, but she went for simplicity at this year’s Met Gala, keeping things sleek and smooth in a nude latex gown by Saint Laurent. The draping and hooded detail gives the dress a twist, though it’s far less fantastical than some of her past looks — we can’t forget that she went for full feline drag back in 2023 with all-white Oscar de la Renta.
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline Christie knows a thing or two about masks from her time on Game of Thrones. And at this year’s Met Gala, Christie wore a custom mask of her own face made by British artist Gillian Wearing. A popular color of the night, the actress wore a voluminous red dress by fashion designer Giles Deacon, the look inspired by the combined works of famed portraitist John Singer Sargent and photographers Yevonde Middleton a.k.a. Madame Yevonde and Ira Cohen.
ConNor Storrie
It wouldn’t be fashion’s biggest night if it didn’t include the surprise cultural hits of the year. Heated Rivalry star Connor Storie made his Met Gala debut in black Yves Saint Laurent slacks with a polkadot blouse and train dotted with oxblood brooches. The dupatta has been so popular in 2026 that dupes are already trickling down to stores like Zara and Urban Outfitters, but since it’s Storrie’s first Met Gala since his rapid rise to fame, we’ll allow it.
Maluma
Maluma Baby — but make it cool dad. The Colombian superstar kept it cool with a sophisticated black suit that gets its pizazz from an asymmetrical label and shimmering fabric details. But the outfit had another special twist: He decided to bring some representation to the Met Gala by going with designer Haider Ackermann, who was also born in Colombia. “I’m chasing the Colombian dream and I’m going back to my roots and having this amazing outfit that represents all the Latino culture for me is very beautiful, too,” he said.
Jordan Roth
Finally, some good fucking food. Broadway producer and ATG Entertainment creative director Jordan Roth appeared in front of the Met Gala cameras in a simple, velvet gray sheath dress. But it was the faceless statuette sprouting out of his back, created by designer Robert Wun, that sparked immediate conversation. Roth told reporters that he was inspired by Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting of the mythic story of Pygmalion and Galatea and wanted to know what it would feel like to live inside such classical sculpture. “This one began with a curiosity about classical sculpture, and, well, really the multifigure classical sculpture,” Roth told Vogue before the event began. “A solo figure is often posing for the viewer, but multiple figures are usually in some kind of heated moment —romance, love, lust, fear, violence. Something passionate is going on among these bodies.”
Rosé
Rosé has always kept it elegant at the Met Gala, opting for slick black looks nearly every year. She went with a similar color palette again in 2026, but jazzed things up with a glamorous, floor-length St. Laurent gown with a high leg slit andaty Perry
