The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2026 Met Gala will take place on May 4, themed "Costume Art" to highlight fashion as a central artistic discipline. Co-chairs include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with a host committee featuring Anthony Vaccarello, Zoë Kravitz, and other celebrities. The event coincides with the opening of the new Condé M. Nast Galleries and the spring exhibition "Costume Art," which pairs historic garments with artworks spanning 5,000 years. The dress code is "fashion is art," and the red carpet will be livestreamed by Vogue.
This matters because the Met Gala is the fashion world's most high-profile fundraiser, raising $31 million in 2025 for the Costume Institute's collection of over 33,000 artifacts. By centering fashion within the museum's broader art collection, the 2026 theme challenges the traditional hierarchy between fine art and dress-making, potentially elevating fashion's status in cultural institutions. The new Condé M. Nast Galleries also signal a major expansion of the museum's commitment to fashion as art.