A dress code this open-ended is sure to deliver some bold looks.

What is the 2026 Met Gala theme? Unpacking the ‘Fashion Is Art’ dress code

A dress code this open-ended is sure to deliver some bold looks.

By Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a writer and editor at **. His work has previously appeared on The A.V. Club, The Guardian, The Ringer, and many other publications.

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May 4, 2026 1:03 p.m. ET

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Celebrities at the 2025 Met Gala. Credit:

Kevin Mazur/Getty(3)

- The 2026 Met Gala's theme is "Costume Art" and the dress code is "Fashion Is Art."

- Anna Wintour, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams serve as co-chairs.

- The red carpet arrivals begin at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

The 2026 Met Gala is upon us, bringing together luminaries from the worlds of art, fashion, and entertainment for an eye-popping show of sartorial excess.

Every year on the first Monday in May, the Met Gala raises funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It's routinely one of the most celebrity-packed events of the year, and this year is no exception. Condé Nast Chief Content Officer Anna Wintour will host and co-chair the event alongside Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams.

This year, guests are taking a cue from the "Costume Art" exhibition taking over the Met's Costume Institute this spring. The dress code, meanwhile, is "Fashion Is Art."

Below, we dig deeper into the theme and dress code — and how it might inspire the many celebrities walking the red carpet.**

What is the Met Gala 2026 theme?

Diana Ross at the 2025 Met Gala.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

The Met Gala 2026 theme is "Costume Art," which is also the name of the Met's spring 2026 exhibition. It aims to "explore depictions of the dressed body across the Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body."

The exhibition doubles as the inauguration of the Costume Institute's first permanent galleries, which will unfold across nearly 12,000 square feet.

“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Andrew Bolton, the Institute's curator in charge, told *Vogue* in November 2025. “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was, this epiphany: I know that we’ve often been seen as the stepchild, but, in fact, the dressed body is front and center in every gallery you come across. Even the nude is never naked. It’s always inscribed with cultural values and ideas.”

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This focus on bodies in relation to art will manifest in numerous ways, with artworks accompanying a diverse range of body types. “The idea was to put the body back into discussions about art and fashion, and to embrace the body, not to take it away as a way of elevating fashion to an art form,” he said.

Last year's theme was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style." In 2024, it was "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion."

What is the Met Gala 2026 dress code?

Andre 3000 at the 2025 Met Gala.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

This year's dress code, "Fashion Is Art," is arguably even more open-ended than the event's last two. In 2024, the dress code was "The Garden of Time," and last year it was "Tailored For You."

According to the Met, "Fashion Is Art" encourages 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."

There's certainly the possibility that some celebrities' outfits will directly reference (or even replicate) famous works of art. Bolton, however, hopes that's not the case. “My fear is that people will come as a Campbell’s soup can or [John Singer Sargent portrait subject] Madam X, that they’ll take it too literally and interpret a painting — or wear an Andy Warhol wig,” the curator recently told *GQ*.**

It's more likely, though, that designers will offer up their own bold creations that treat the body as a canvas. “This year, there's so much room for experimentation," Bolton said.

The exhibition's focus on bodies also leaves the door open for plenty of skin to be on display, particularly for those looking to evoke the chiseled nudes of Greek sculpture.

We're not expecting a lot of *functional* ensembles — but where's the fun in that, anyway?

Where can I watch the Met Gala red carpet?

The 2026 Met Gala red carpet can be watched on *Vogue*'s official YouTube and TikTok accounts, as well as via *Vogue*'s website.

Presiding over the arrivals, which begin at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, are La La Anthony, Cara Delevingne, and Ashley Graham.

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