“Fashion Is Art”: The Met Gala 2026 theme is set to reimagine the red carpet

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled the theme for the 2026 Met Gala, and with it, a directive that feels expansive and exacting. Titled 'Costume Art', the accompanying dress code, “Fashion Is Art,” offers guests a clear yet ambitious brief: treat clothing not merely as attire, but as artistic expression. For an event already synonymous with spectacle, the upcoming edition signals a deeper curatorial turn, one that situates fashion firmly within the lineage of fine art.

What the Met Gala represents

The Met Gala remains the foremost fundraising event for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, traditionally marking the opening of its annual spring exhibition. Over its 77-year history, the gala has evolved into fashion’s most closely watched night, routinely generating eight-figure sums in support of the museum’s programming. In 2025, the benefit achieved a historic milestone, raising approximately $31 million, the highest total in its storied run.

Beyond its philanthropic impact, the gala serves as a cultural barometer. Each theme shapes not only the Costume Institute’s exhibition but also the narrative arc of the red carpet, influencing how designers, celebrities, and stylists interpret fashion’s place in the broader creative landscape.

“Costume Art” and the centrality of the dressed body

The 2026 exhibition, Costume Art, will occupy the museum’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, located adjacent to the Great Hall. Bringing together nearly 400 objects, the show will juxtapose garments from the Costume Institute with paintings, sculptures, and works spanning 5,000 years of art history. The through line is the dressed body, examining how clothing shapes, frames, and reimagines the human form across centuries.

Under the stewardship of curator Andrew Bolton, the exhibition underscores a fundamental idea: in any gallery, across any period, the relationship between clothing and the body remains central. By placing fashion in direct dialogue with canonical works of art, the show invites viewers to reconsider garments not as peripheral embellishments but as vital cultural artefacts.

The dress code, “Fashion Is Art,” translates this curatorial thesis into action. Attendees are encouraged to approach the red carpet as an extension of the exhibition,considering silhouette, material, and construction as elements of artistic composition. If previous years prompted the familiar refrain that a gown resembled a masterpiece, 2026 appears poised to collapse that distinction entirely.

A star-studded leadership

At the helm of the 2026 gala will be a formidable cohort. Beyoncé returns to the Met steps after a decade, serving as co-chair alongside Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, with Anna Wintour continuing her longstanding leadership of the benefit. Beyoncé last attended in 2016 for the “Manus x Machina” gala and previously held the title of honorary chair in 2013. Kidman brings prior experience as co-chair, having served in 2003 and 2005, while Williams steps into the role for the first time.

The Host Committee further underscores the event’s cultural breadth. Co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz, the committee includes an eclectic mix of artists and performers such as Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Sam Smith, and A’ja Wilson, among others. Notably, Chloe Malle will also assume hosting duties as part of the 2026 committee. While the official guest list will remain under wraps until the evening itself, the leadership alone guarantees a convergence of disciplines, music, sport, film, and fashion, each primed to interpret the theme through its own creative lens.

With Costume Art and the dress code “Fashion Is Art,” the 2026 Met Gala reframes a familiar spectacle through a more rigorous curatorial lens. By positioning the dressed body as both subject and medium, the event promises to blur the boundaries between gallery and red carpet.

As the Met Gala has long been described as fashion’s most theatrical night, this iteration suggests something even more ambitious: a living exhibition in which clothing does not simply adorn the body, but transforms it into art.

Lead image: Rahul Mishra Runway, 2026

Inside image credits: Getty Images

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