Met Gala 2026 Theme "Fashion Is Art": Co-Chairs, Dress Code and Exhibition Explained

Fashion's biggest night, the Met Gala 2026, is set to return on May 4, 2026, as is tradition. Every year on the first Monday of May, the world's most anticipated night of fashion, celebrity and philanthropy takes over the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. What started in 1948 as an exclusive dinner for New York high society was transformed in the 1990s by Anna Wintour into the global spectacle we obsess over today. This year, Wintour will be joined by co-chairs Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams as the Gala raises funds for the Costume Institute and its brand new exhibition, Costume Art, which opens on May 10 and explores the concept of the "dressed body" in art across the centuries. This year's Gala is sponsored by no other than Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez and with "Fashion Is Art" as the dress code, Beyoncé's first appearance on those steps in ten years is already the most talked about moment of 2026.

The Dress Code: Fashion Is Art

The exhibition theme Costume Art and the dress code "Fashion Is Art" are two different things, and the distinction matters. The theme guides the exhibition itself, while the dress code gives guests their creative directive for the night. Think of last year: the exhibition was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, the dress code was "Tailored For You." This year's brief is deliberately open-ended, inviting attendees to "consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas." As curator Andrew Bolton put it: "The dressed body is front and center in every gallery you come across. It is the common thread throughout the whole museum."

The Co-Chairs

The lineup alone is enough to make May 4 feel very far away. Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams will join Anna Wintour as co-chairs and the headliner is undeniably Beyoncé, making her first Met Gala appearance in a decade. She last walked those steps in 2016 in a latex Givenchy gown that defined the naked dress moment for years to come. Whatever she wears this time, the internet is not ready.

Nicole Kidman is essentially a Met institution, having RSVPed yes since 2003. Last year she turned heads in a custom reimagining of a 1952 Balenciaga ballgown. Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, arrived in 2025 in a custom Lacoste tennis-inspired look that felt perfectly, cheekily on-brand, following in the footsteps of her sister Serena, who co-chaired the 2019 Gala.

The Host Committee

Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello and actress Zoë Kravitz are co-leading the host committee, joined by Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, retired ballet legend Misty Copeland and WNBA champion A'ja Wilson. It is a roster that spans every corner of culture, which feels entirely intentional for a theme positioning fashion as a universal art form.

The Exhibition

Opening to the public on May 10, Costume Art will inaugurate the brand new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot permanent space adjacent to the Met's Great Hall. It is a historic milestone for the Costume Institute, which is getting its first dedicated permanent galleries inside the museum. The show will pair paintings, sculptures and artifacts spanning 5,000 years of art history with historical and contemporary garments, organized around three thematic body types: the classical body, the overlooked body and the anatomical body. The exhibition runs through January 10, 2027.

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