2026 Met Gala launches Costume Art exhibition, spotlights fashion as art

The Met Gala turned the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a live argument for fashion as fine art, with Beyoncé’s first appearance in 10 years, Rihanna’s late-night arrival, and a guest list built to amplify the theme as much as the spectacle. The 2026 event on Monday, May 4, doubled as the annual fundraiser for The Costume Institute and the launch of Costume Art, the museum’s spring exhibition opening May 10.

The exhibition will run through January 10, 2027 in the Met’s nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries and will feature nearly 400 objects from the museum’s collection. Curated around the dressed body, Costume Art pairs garments with works from across The Met to show how clothing, posture, and image-making shape the way fashion functions as an art form. The gala’s dress code, Fashion is Art, pushed attendees to treat the red carpet as an extension of the gallery.

Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour co-chaired the evening, while Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chaired the host committee. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as lead sponsors and honorary chairs. Newly announced host committee members included Adut Akech, Angela Bassett, Sinéad Burke, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Mullins, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sherald, and Chase Sui Wonders, a roster that underscored the Met’s effort to frame the night as both cultural event and institutional showcase.

The Costume Institute has long used the gala to finance the department that studies and stages fashion inside the museum. The Met says the Costume Institute Benefit is its primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and operations, giving the party a direct role in sustaining the work behind the scenes. That funding model has made the gala one of the most powerful intersections of celebrity, patronage, and museum strategy in American culture.

This year’s show also carried the weight of the institute’s history. It began as the Museum of Costume Art in 1937, merged with The Met in 1946, and became a curatorial department in 1959. Figures including Diana Vreeland, Richard Martin, Harold Koda, and Andrew Bolton helped shape its rise into a fashion authority. On a night when Sabrina Carpenter, Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Dwyane Wade, and Gabrielle Union drew cameras, and Zendaya was absent, the message was clear: the Met Gala no longer just dresses the museum. It helps define how fashion is seen, valued, and sold.