How to watch the 2026 Met Gala live, time, theme and stars

Why the Met Gala still commands the culture calendar

The Met Gala now functions as more than a fundraiser and more than a fashion showcase. It is a live, multi-platform media event that pulls in viewers the way awards season or a championship game does, with one tightly timed red carpet feeding livestreams, social clips and brand-led coverage across the internet.

That is why the first Monday in May matters so much. The night condenses celebrity, museum stewardship, corporate sponsorship and fashion diplomacy into a single broadcast-friendly spectacle, and the result is an event that dominates conversation long before the first look reaches the carpet.

When the red carpet begins

The 2026 Met Gala takes place on Monday, May 4, 2026, and guests are expected to start arriving at about 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Major red-carpet coverage begins at 6 p.m. Eastern, giving viewers a clear window for when the night turns from anticipation into full spectacle.

The Met Fifth Avenue is closed that day for the gala, which makes the museum itself part of the staging. That closure underlines the scale of the event: for one evening, the institution shifts from public exhibition space to the center of the fashion world’s most watched annual procession.

How to watch live

The official Met red-carpet livestream is available on the museum’s website, making it the most direct way to follow the arrivals as they happen. Vogue’s livestream is another major option, and it is presented by Colgate, eBay, Eli Lilly and On Running.

Vogue’s stream also brings back Emma Chamberlain as red-carpet correspondent, with Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne hosting. Around that core feed, several outlets are carrying live coverage on YouTube, including AP, TODAY and Reuters, while E! is airing its own livestream on Peacock and through live-TV services.

A practical watch plan is simple:

• Start with the museum’s livestream at 6 p.m. Eastern for the official red-carpet feed.

• Switch to Vogue if you want Chamberlain’s commentary and the sponsor-backed presentation.

• Keep an eye on other live streams from AP, TODAY and Reuters for alternate camera angles and coverage.

• Check E! on Peacock or live-TV services if you prefer a dedicated entertainment-network broadcast.

The spread of platforms matters because the Met Gala is no longer consumed in one sitting on one channel. It is followed in real time, clipped instantly and then replayed across feeds, which is exactly why its influence reaches far beyond the guest list.

The theme, the dress code and the institutional stakes

This year’s exhibition is titled Costume Art, and the dress code is Fashion Is Art. The exhibition opens on May 10, 2026, and runs through January 10, 2027, making the gala the curtain-raiser for a long museum season rather than a one-night fashion event.

Costume Art is the inaugural exhibition in the Met’s new nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall. The museum says the show pairs garments from The Costume Institute with artworks from across The Met’s collection to explore the relationship between clothing and the body, which gives the gala a sharper curatorial purpose than a typical red-carpet celebration.

That context is what separates this event from most celebrity galas. The clothes still matter, but here they are tied to an institution building out its physical footprint, its exhibition program and its public identity at the same time.

The names anchoring the night

The honorary chairs are Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. The gala co-chairs are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour, a lineup that bridges music, film, sport and fashion authority.

Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chair the host committee, which includes 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. Saint Laurent and Condé Nast provide additional support, reinforcing how deeply the event now sits at the intersection of culture and commerce.

Why this night still lands so hard

The Met Gala’s modern stature was shaped in part by Diana Vreeland, whose exhibitions helped turn the Costume Institute into a public cultural force. That legacy still echoes through an institution whose collection includes more than 33,000 objects spanning seven centuries.

The deeper point is that the gala has become a rare place where fashion, fundraising, celebrity and live television all move at once. That convergence is what gives the night its power, and why the Met Gala remains one of the few events on the calendar that can still turn a museum exhibition into a worldwide media moment before a single gown has even reached the carpet.