Since 1995, the first Monday of May has been devoted to fashion. As the Met Gala 2026 approaches, cochairs Venus Williams, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour will host the Costume Institute Benefit, an annual fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute that last year raised a record-breaking $31 million. On Monday, May 4, about 450 of the biggest stars across fashion, culture, entertainment, and politics convene to honor the cultural institution in their finest designer garb. This year’s dress code is “Fashion Is Art” and the exhibition title is “Costume Art.”
Below, everything you need to know about the Met Gala 2026.
What is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala, also known as the Costume Institute Benefit and sometimes called the Met Ball, is the annual charity event for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. It also celebrates the opening of the year’s Costume Institute exhibit, with guests dressing in accordance with the evening’s theme. In 2024, the fundraiser raised roughly $26 million for the Costume Institute, a number that reached a record-breaking $31 million the following year. The first benefit was held in 1948, and since 1995, the Met Gala has been chaired by Wintour.
When will the Met Gala 2026 take place?
The Met Gala 2026 will take place on Monday, May 4, 2026. The red carpet typically opens at 5:30 p.m. ET. The theme is “Costume Art,” which will explore depictions of the dressed body from across the museum’s curatorial departments, coordinating articles of clothing with pieces of art dating back 5,000 years, per The Met. This year’s exhibit will debut The Met’s new nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, named after the founder of the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, among others. The exhibition will run from May 10, 2026 to January 10, 2027.
What is the theme of the Met Gala 2026?
This year’s Costume Institute spring exhibition is titled “Costume Art” and centers on the “centrality of the dressed body” in The Met’s collection. Nearly 400 objects are expected to be shown, including approximately 200 garments and accessories and 200 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts, according to The Met. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the exhibition is organized into recurring “body” types throughout The Met, such as the “Naked Body,” “Classical Body,” “Pregnant Body,” “Aging Body,” “Anatomical Body,” and “Mortal Body.”
What is the dress code of the Met Gala 2026?
As for the guest dress code, A-list attendees are instructed to emulate the idea that “Fashion Is Art.” Guests are invited “to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas,” according to Vogue. “What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Bolton, the curator in charge of the Costume Institute, told Vogue in November. “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was.”
