What’s one of the best Met Gala theme of all time? It’s a enjoyable litmus check for anybody who loves style, artwork, and celebrities (or all the above!)—and a tricky query certainly. The theme of the annual fundraising event aligns with the yearly spring exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Artwork’s Costume Institute, and it informs the costume code. For the Met Gala 2026, the theme is “Costume Art,” and the costume code is “Fashion is Art.”
So what can we anticipate to see from this yr’s attendees? Will or not it’s naked dressing all the best way? Trompe l’oeil seems to be, like Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature graphic bodycon attire? Statuesque robes? Tune in to Vogue’s exclusive red carpet livestream, hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony, and Cara Delevingne, plus returning purple carpet correspondent Emma Chamberlain, on Monday, Could 4, to search out out.
Within the meantime, beneath, take a look at annually’s Met Gala theme courting again to 1995, the primary yr that Anna Wintour grew to become a chair of the occasion.
2026: “Costume Artwork”
Hosted by co-chairs Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, this yr’s Met Gala celebrates the Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art.” The occasion—which is a fundraiser for the Costume Institute—will even inaugurate the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, an almost 12,000-square-foot house on the primary ground of the museum, which can function the everlasting residence of the Costume Institute. This spring’s exhibition will contemplate depictions of the dressed physique from throughout the museum’s curatorial departments, pairing artwork objects with clothes.
2025: “Superfine: Tailoring Black Fashion”
Final yr’s Met Gala was a celebration of the Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Fashion.” It was organized by head curator Andrew Bolton with visitor curator Monica Miller, professor and chair of Africana Research at Barnard Faculty and Columbia College and creator of the prizewinning 2009 e-book Slaves to Vogue: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identification. Bolton referred to the 2022 demise of legendary Black dandy and longtime Vogue editor André Leon Talley as “the catalyst for the present,” and several other friends paid tribute to Talley with seems to be that explored the finer factors of suiting and tailoring (all too apropos, on condition that the exhibition was the primary since 2003 to focus exclusively on menswear).
