2026 Met Gala

For one night each year, the steps of the New Metropolitan Museum of Art – otherwise known as the Met – transform into a stage encapsulating fashion’s biggest night of the year, the Costume Institute Benefit (now more commonly known as the Met Gala). On the first Monday of May, socialites, celebrities, models, and actors, all meticulously invited by the legendary Anna Wintour herself, pave their way across those iconic steps showcasing their most extravagant and dramatic silhouettes encompassing that year’s theme. Whether their gown gets them invited the following year? That’s up to Anna Wintour to decide. 

Fashion is Art: Breaking Down This Year’s Theme

This year’s Met in particular, produced some of the most intricate and frankly exquisite looks in the event's history, and while the work of so many talented designers is to thank, this year’s theme was also a huge creative inspiration. 

This year’s theme, ‘Costume Art’, pays homage to the Met’s new exhibit portraying various depictions of the ‘dressed body’, pairing these garments with works of art and sculptures spanning over 5000 years old. These depictions of the ‘dressed body’ are divided into a series of types ranging from the ‘Classical Body’ to the ‘Aging Body’ to the ‘Pregnant Body’, where garments and costumes within the museum reflect the sculptural or artistic representation of the human form. 

As a broader embodiment of the theme, this year’s dress code for Gala attendees, as selected by Anna Wintour, was: ‘Fashion is Art’, encouraging guests to explore the relationship between fashion embodied as a form of art. The dress code allowed attendees to celebrate depictions of the ‘dressed body’ throughout art history or take an alternative approach by directly dressing as infamous works of art from Baroque, Impressionist, or Renaissance movements. 

Best Dressed of the Night  

Some of the most notable looks of the night were found to mirror the most celebrated works of art, spanning across a variety of eras in art history. 

Gracie Abrams in Chanel, inspired by Gustav Klimt's ‘Portrait of Adele’ 

Hunter Shafer wearing Prada, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s ‘Mada Primavesi’

The paintings that inspired these looks above belonged to the Art Nouveau era, popularized in 20th century Vienna by Klimt himself. As illustrated, this era of art broke away from the more traditional academic art, instead embracing more decorative, colorful and exaggerated motifs as reflected in the works above.

These characteristics of decorative and colorful embellishments are illustrated by the integration of fabric and pattern in Shafer’s look and the jeweled detailing within Abram’s look. 

Rachel Zegler wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung, inspired by Paul Delaroche’s ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’. 

This look’s inspiration belongs to the Romantic Era of art, with a sub genre in academic painting. This era focused on depicting moments of tension, psychological anguish, and deep emotion most often through highly polished, realistic techniques. 

Zegler’s look does a particularly admirable job in encapsulating the garment worn by who is assumed to be Lady Jane herself, in Delaroche’s depiction. 

Angela Basset wearing Prabal Gurung, inspired by Laura Wheeler’s ‘Girl in a Pink Dress’ 

The work that inspired this piece belongs to the Harlem Renaissance Era, most popular during the early to mid 20th century. The works in this era were a movement of Black artistic expression, where painters, sculptors and other artists used bright colors and strong strokes to reflect the rich cultural heritage and multifaceted realities of African American life. 

Angela Basset’s stunning dress encapsulates the delicacy of the girl depicted in Wheeler’s painting, while also using fabrics, textures, and colors that make the look appear dainty yet also bold. 

Madonna wearing Yves Saint Laurent, inspired by Leonora Carrignton’s ‘The Temptation of St. Anthony’

In true Madonna nature, this look isn’t anything if not extravagant. The inspiration for this look belongs to the Surrealist movement, defined by an exploration of dream-like figures, shapes and symbols; other key artists of this era alongside Carrignton include Salvador Dali, Jean Arp, and Max Earnst. 

Madonna's look uses dramatic mesh draping and silky faded colors to further help embody that surreal, dream-like feel of the painting. 

Kendall Jenner wearing GapStudio, inspired by the ‘Winged Victory of Samothrace’ 

One of the few looks of the night inspired by a sculpture was worn by Kendall Jenner, and most definitely did not disappoint. The inspiration behind this look belongs to the Greek Hellenistic era dating all the way back to the beginning of 2nd century B.C – which really puts the word ‘timeless’ into perspective. The sculptures of this era are instantly recognizable with their incredibly meticulous and unmistakable stone draping, effortlessly integrating movement, romance, and fluidity into human form. 

Additionally re-referencing the year’s theme, Kendall’s look uses modern mesh fabric to replicate the intricate draping of the original sculpture and further exemplifies the silhouette along with its structure.  

Emma Chamberlain wearing custom Mugler inspired by brush strokes of Van Gogh

The saying ‘last but not least’ could not be more pertinent as we end the article on my personal favorite look of the night worn by Emma Chamberlain. Although it is difficult to correlate a singular piece with this look, it is undeniable that the gown beautifully encapsulates the brush strokes and quintessential post impressionist style in all of Van Gogh’s pieces. 

This revolutionary style favored dreamy, sweeping, and expressive brush strokes, along with darker, more earthy tones as reflected in Chamberlin’s look. 

Till next year, 

Unfortunately, we can’t publish all 255 Met Gala looks, but if you’re interested in some more of this year’s looks, you can access them all here. 

From stone to strokes, this year’s Met Gala proved that fashion has the power to transform art into something livable, wearable – and frankly – unforgettable.