Fashion is Art: 2026 Met Gala Dress Code Revealed

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the dress code for the 2026 Met Gala: “Fashion is Art.” The fundraiser gala is scheduled for Monday, May 4.

Co-chairs for the Costume Institute Benefit (aka The Met Gala) include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour.

The Gala Host Committee includes a larger list of stars. Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz will co-chair the committee. Members include:

• Sabrina Carpenter
• Doja Cat
• Gwendoline Christie
• Alex Consani
• Misty Copeland
• Elizabeth Debicki
• Lena Dunham
• Paloma Elsesser
• LISA
• Chloe Malle
• Sam Smith
• Teyana Taylor
• Lauren Wasser
• Anna Weyant
• A’ja Wilson
• Yseult

Adut Akech, Angela Bassett, Sinéad Burke, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Mullins, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sherald and Chase Sui Wonders are newest members of the committee.

This announcement paired with The Met’s Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, Costume Art. The Met Fifth Avenue will have Costume Art for viewing from May 10 through January 10, 2027.

@metmuseum

Celebrate fashion as an art form this spring at The Met! Opening May 10, 2026, “Costume Art” is The Costume Institute’s annual exhibition. Focusing primarily on Western art from prehistory to the present, the show will explore artistic representations of the dressed body, pairing fashions and artworks from the Museum’s vast collection to highlight the inherent relationship between clothing and the body. “Costume Art” is the inaugural exhibition in a new, nearly 12,000-square-foot suite of galleries adjacent to the Great Hall, which will display the department’s annual spring show and mark a new chapter for the Museum. The Met Gala fundraiser will celebrate the opening of “Costume Art” on Monday, May 4, 2026. #MetCostumeArt

♬ original sound – The Met

This exhibition features approximately 400 objects from The Met’s vast collection. Between these objects, more than 5,000 years of art history will show in this highly anticipated display.

The theme for the exhibition along with the Met Gala dress code ties the relationship of fashion and the art of the human form.

The Official Announcement

In an official press release on February 23, The Metropolitan Museum of Art described the theme of the Gala as a chance for attendees to express “their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.”

The Costume Institute’s Curator in Charge, Andrew Bolton, added:

“… I wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the Museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as an embodied art form. Rather than prioritizing fashion’s visuality, which often comes at the expense of the corporeal, Costume Art privileges its materiality and the indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear.”

The broadness of this year’s theme left many confused on how attendees will interpret their looks. Others expressed excitement about how creative the outfits will get.

Many have interpreted the exhibition to be the theme name, but that is merely a confusion of the Met’s May 2026 exhibition and the Met Gala’s dress code theme.

Unsurprisingly, the Met Gala has its share of controversy. Comments and critique against the entire event due to the current state of politics in the country, along with Amazon CEO and billionaire Jeff Bezos’s involvement in the event.

It was inevitable that Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sánchez Bezos, thirsty for cultural domination, would sink their claws into the Met Gala via sponsorship. Their entire media rollout has been leading to this exact moment. When THAT purchase announcement comes next….don’t act shocked ⏰

— Louis Pisano (@LouisPisano) November 17, 2025

Both Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos are main sponsors and honorary chairs.

Regardless of the drama, the Met Gala will still host a star-studded night filled with high fashion and celebrity publicity. Only time will tell if the event is a success for fashion and art, or a commentary on how tone deaf the elite live their lives.