The 2026 Met Gala Framed Fashion As Art – And These Looks Defined The Night

This year’s Met Gala turned the red carpet into a living, breathing gallery.

A-listers and designers let their imaginations run wild while embracing organizers’ call to “treat the body as a canvas” as they brought the evening’s “Fashion is Art” dress code to life Monday.

Met monarch Anna Wintour evoked Art Deco opulence in a black and turquoise dress cut from shimmering brocade fabric, which she paired with a feathered jacket of the same hues.

The one and only Beyoncé stunned in a diamond-embellished skeleton design by Balmain while making her first appearance at the gala in a decade.

Nicole Kidman, one of the evening’s co-chairs, dazzled in ruby red sequined Chanel with flowing blonde tresses.

Anne Hathaway glowed in a hand-painted Michael Kors Collection dress, created in collaboration with the designer’s close friend, artist Peter McGough.

Sabrina Carpenter looked picture-perfect in a Christian Dior dress crafted from strips of film featuring frames from the 1954 Audrey Hepburn movie “Sabrina.”

Honorary co-chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos was the belle of the ball in a navy blue Schiaparelli gown, designed as a tribute to the iconic John Singer Sargent portrait “Madame X.” Once called the “world’s most scandalous” painting, it’s one of the crowning jewels of the Met’s collection.

Katy Perry took her cue from the mirrored mannequins modeling clothes in the Costume Institute’s exhibit, arriving with her face hidden by a metallic mask and a sumptuous white gown by Stella McCartney.

Model Gigi Hadid stunned in sheer grey Miu Miu accessorized with a minimal makeup glow.

Gwendoline Christie leaned into illusion, wearing a Giles Deacon design with a porcelain doll-like mask and dramatic feathered hat.

The 2026 gala celebrated the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Costume Art.” The show is a sweeping collection of apparel paired with art from across 5,000 years of human history.

By placing nearly 200 works from all media in conversation, curator Andrew Bolton said, he hoped to illustrate why “fashion should be taken seriously as a form of aesthetics, not supplementary or secondary to art.”

“In dialogue with each other, something happens,” he said. “It’s like one plus one equals three.”

We’ve curated the best of fashion’s biggest night right here: