Met Gala 2026 Guide: Theme, Hosts, Dress Code and More

The first Monday in May — aka the date of the Met Gala, aka the occasion of the 12 months, aka the Oscars of the East Coast — is coming. That alone ought to be sufficient to get everybody’s people-watching juices flowing. The garments! The celebrities! The cash! The likelihood to remark knowingly on all the above whereas in your pajamas.

But this Met Gala is not only any previous Met Gala. This Met Gala is celebrating each the following large Costume Institute present and the Costume Institute’s new home: the Condé M. Nast Galleries. Housed within the 11,500-square-foot house that was once the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s present store, the style galleries will now be the very first thing guests see after they stroll into the Great Hall.

In different phrases: an plain declaration that trend deserves a primary place in probably the most storied of positive arts establishments.

Wait — that feels like a giant deal.

It is. Ever for the reason that Museum of Costume Art merged with the Met in 1946 and grew to become the Costume Institute, the CI has been relegated to the Met’s basement, squished right into a cramped, 4,300-square-foot gallery house, like a type of embarrassing relative. There was no extra telling image of the truth that trend was by no means actually thought-about the aesthetic equal of, say, portray or sculpture.

When the Costume Institute needed to placed on its large annual exhibition, it needed to both borrow house from different galleries or use a short lived exhibition house, which restricted how lengthy its exhibits may very well be open. Now it has a big, everlasting house of its personal, and the exhibition shall be up for a full 9 months, a improvement positively value celebrating. Maybe that is why Beyoncé agreed to be a number.

Beyoncé?!

She is an official co-chair of the gala, together with Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Condé Nast’s chief content material officer, Anna Wintour, the girl most accountable for making the Met Gala what it’s. This would be the first time Beyoncé has graced the Met Gala along with her presence in a decade. Jeff Bezos, the founding father of Amazon, and his spouse, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, are the honorary chairs, offering the primary supply of funding for the exhibition and the occasion itself.

The Bezoses are concerned? How’s that going over?

Some see the couple’s involvement as an effort to buy their way to cultural legitimacy. Indeed, one activist group, Everyone Hates Elon, has already begun calling for a boycott of the gala and in any other case making an attempt to embarrass Mr. Bezos. In New York, posters started appearing near the museum and around the city calling the occasion “the Bezos Met Gala” and claiming that it was “brought to you by worker exploitation.”

Is there a theme?

Yes, and as typical it’s linked to the blockbuster exhibition that the occasion is celebrating. This 12 months, that’s the Costume Institute’s spring present, “Costume Art,” which is able to argue that trend — or what Andrew Bolton, the division’s curator in cost, known as “the dressed body” — is the frequent thread connecting each different gallery within the museum.

That’s a much less hot-button subject than final 12 months’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style“though not entirely without its politics. As part of his concept, Mr. Bolton considered “Costume Art” through the lens of various kinds of bodies, including the “pregnant body,” the “corpulent body,” the “disabled body” and the “naked and nude body.”

The nude body! So is the dress code all about bodies?

Perhaps in order to avoid naked-dressing one-upmanshipthe dress code this year is actually “Fashion Is Art.” What which means is open to interpretation (even when it does appear a bit on the nostril for a museum gala), however you may think about a number of Saint Laurent Mondrian dressesor maybe some items from John Galliano’s fall 2007 Dior couture show. That assortment paid homage to Christian Dior’s relationship with artwork and included an outfit meant to mimic Picasso’s “Paul in Harlequin” in addition to seems impressed by Goya and Cocteau.

Hopefully no visitors will arrive with elaborate frames round their heads, however you by no means know. Remember in 2019, when Billy Porterwanting like a golden winged phoenix, was born into the occasion celebrating “Camp” by six shirtless males? Or when Jared Leto arrived on the gala celebrating Karl Lagerfeld in 2023 dressed as Mr. Lagerfeld’s beloved Birman cat, Choupette?

What’s the value for all of this?

Individual tickets are a whopping $100,000 — $25,000 more than last year — with tables starting at $350,000 (the math is a little confusing, but maybe there are some small tables). It really adds up: The 2025 Met Gala raised a file $31 million. To put that in perspective, final 12 months the New York City Ballet’s spring gala raised $2.7 million.

All the money from ticket sales goes directly to funding the Costume Institute’s yearly budget. Why? Because when the Museum of Costume Art joined the Met, it did so under the stricture that the institute had to pay for itself; it is the only curatorial department at the Met required to do so, and that is in part why the Met Gala was created back in 1948.

What do visitors get for his or her cash?

Aside from the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a cultural institution and the opportunity to mingle with Beyoncé? A cocktail party in the Great Hall, dinner by Olivier Cheng Catering near the Temple of Dendur and lavish floral décor by Raúl Àvila. And there’s always surprise entertainment. Last year, it was Usher and Stevie Wonder.

If I can afford it, can I go?

Only in your dreams. Unlike other cultural fund-raisers, like the Metropolitan Opera’s season-opening gala, the Met Gala is invitation only. Qualifications for inclusion have more to do with buzz, achievement and beauty — Ms. Wintour’s holy trinity — than money. Ms. Wintour, who is also Vogue’s global editorial director, has the final say over every invitation and attendee. Even if you give tons of money to the museum, you will not necessarily qualify, and even if a company buys a table, it cannot choose everyone who will sit at that table. It must run any proposed guests by Ms. Wintour and Vogue and pray for approval. This year, as in 2025, there are about 400 chosen ones, according to a declaration for the Costume Institute.

OK, so who’s invited?

The guest list is a closely guarded secret, but this year, as last year, there is an additional host committee led by the Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello (Saint Laurent is sponsoring the exhibition catalog) and the actress Zoë Kravitz and stuffed with boldface names, all of whom will presumably make their entrances on the museum steps.

Members include Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Alex Consani, Misty Copeland, Teyana Taylor, A’ja Wilson, Sam Smith and Chase Sui Wonders. Chances are high Jay-Z will attend to support his wife, as there will be some combination of Kardashians and Jenners. And then there are everyone’s favorite hot new celebs of the moment, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams: You can bet they’ll get a golden ticket.

Will Zohran Mamdani attend?

Nope. Although the Met is a major New York City institution and tourist attraction, and Mayors Michael R. Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams did attend (albeit not yearly), Mr. Mamdani has mentioned he and his spouse, Rama Duwaji, are sending their regrets this time round.

The flagrant displays of wealth at the gala are at odds with Mr. Mamdani’s position as a democratic socialist and his pledge to make the city affordable again. Indeed, when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended in 2021, despite the fact she did so wearing a dress that blared “Tax the Rich,” the criticism was vociferous. That could also be why when former Vice President Kamala Harris was a surprise guest last yearshe skipped the doorway picture op and attended solely the dinner.

Do the celebrities buy their own tickets?

Do dogs fly? No, they are invited by brands (or by brands on the instructions of Vogue), who buy guests’ seats at the table, in addition to custom-making their looks, flying them in and putting them up. In return, the famous guests work the fashion angle. Of course, they can always make a personal donation to the museum.

When does it start?

In theory, the timed arrivals — each guest is allotted a slot — begin at 5 pm, usually starting with the evening’s co-chairs, and ending around 8 pm Unless, of course, you are Rihanna, in which case no rules apply. Last year she showed up at 10 pmafter some other guests had already made the rounds and gone home.

How can I watch?

To give an inside look at the gala, Vogue will be livestreaming the event for the sixth consecutive year, this time with hosts Ashley Graham, Cara Delevingne and La La Anthony; Emma Chamberlain is once again the magazine’s special red carpet correspondent. Expect more than just “What are you wearing?”

Some stalwart fans line up on Fifth Avenue behind sidewalk barriers and security officers across from the (tented) museum steps, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite celebrities as they emerge from their Sprinter vans and Escalades, but this is not a moment for the rabble: You will get a much better view from your small screen or computer. We’ll be covering the arrivals live on nytimes.com, with red carpet interviews, real-time fashion criticism and photos galore, so tune in here.