Unpacking The 2026 Met Gala Theme

 

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The theme for this year’s Met Gala has been announced, complimenting the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s upcoming exhibition “Costume Art”.

The exhibition explores how fashion and the fine arts work together by pairing hundreds of artworks with different garments and accessories, and is set to run from 10 May 2026 to 10 January 2027. Speaking about the exhibition, the exhibition’s curator Andrew Bolton said: “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 this exhibition was, this epiphany: I know that we’ve often been seen as the stepchild, but, in fact, the dressed body is front and centre 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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In fitting with the exhibition’s theme, the dress code for this year’s Met Gala is “Fashion is Art”. While the title leaves a lot of room for imagination, attendees will be expected to somehow incorporate art into their outfits in their own way. 

While the full guest list has yet to be released, we can already expect to see a lot of familiar faces in the Host Committee, with Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz serving as co-chairs, as well as other big names including Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Consani and Sam Smith. Of course, Met Gala icons Anna Wintour, Beyoncé, Venus Williams and Nicole Kidman are set to co-chair the gala this year. 

We’re really looking forward to seeing how all these celebs embrace the dress code. We had some pretty amazing looks from last year’s gala, where the dress code was “Tailored For You”, tying into the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”. Let’s see if they can outdo themselves this year.

The Met Gala will take place on May 4 2026, and viewers all around the world can tune in via livestream on the night.