Beyoncé returns to Met Gala as co-chair for 2026 fashion theme

The Met Gala’s real currency is not just celebrity, but money, access and institutional power, and this year Beyoncé was back at the center of it. The singer returned as a co-chair for the 2026 benefit, her first Met Gala since 2016, alongside Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, while Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary chairs. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says the invitation-only event is the Costume Institute’s primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and operations.

Held on Monday, May 4, the gala carried the dress code “Fashion is Art” and doubled as the public launch of the museum’s next Costume Institute presentation, “Costume Art.” The exhibition opens to visitors on May 10 and runs through January 10, 2027 at The Met Fifth Avenue. It will feature nearly 400 objects from the museum’s collection and examine depictions of the dressed body, pairing garments with artworks from across the institution.

The evening also marked the debut of the Costume Institute’s new nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall, a space the museum has tied directly to the gala and the exhibition. That makes the Met Gala more than a red carpet spectacle. It is a fundraising engine that helps finance the department’s year-round work and a stage where cultural status is translated into institutional support.

The host committee added another layer of star power, with Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chairing the group. The roster also included 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.

The Met’s homepage advertised a red-carpet livestream for the 2026 Costume Institute Benefit, underscoring how the gala reaches far beyond the invite list. While the museum closed its Fifth Avenue building for the night, the arrivals remained visible to a much larger audience, turning a tightly controlled fundraiser into a global media event built on celebrity leverage and public attention.