On Monday, May 4, guests at the 2026 Met Gala will celebrate “Costume Art,” the spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. But what will they wear? Today, we at least have an idea: The Met Gala dress code for this year is “Fashion is Art.”
The directive perfectly reflects the ethos of “Costume Art,” which explores the “centrality of the dressed body” through depictions and interpretations of the human form in the Met’s extensive collection. Made up of nearly 400 objects, the show—set to occupy the Met’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, adjacent to the Great Hall—pairs garments from the Costume Institute with paintings, sculptures, and other works spanning some 5,000 years of art history. In turn, the dress code encourages attendees to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas.
“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Andrew Bolton, the curator in charge of the Costume Institute, has said. “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was.”
So who should we expect to see at the Met in their artful best? Though the gala’s complete guest list remains a carefully guarded secret until the first Monday in May, we do know a few big names in the mix.
As previously announced, the co-chairs for the 2026 Met Gala are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, and members of the Gala Host Committee—co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz—include 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, and Yseult.
Now joining the host committee as well are Adut Akech, Angela Bassett, Sinéad Burke, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Mullins, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sherald, and Chase Sui Wonders. As this year’s lead sponsors for the gala and exhibition, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos will also serve as honorary chairs.
Should any of them need a little direction, we’ve already gathered some dress code-appropriate options for Met Gala Monday. Otherwise, we can’t wait to see how attendees embody the theme.
This article was first published on Vogue.com.
