We’re days away from the 2026 Met Gala, and in my many years writing about the event, I’ve noticed that there is one thing everyone—as in, those watching at home—gets wrong about the whole thing. And no, it’s not that the Met Gala is more than a very glamorous party, though that part is important. The Met might be fashion’s biggest night, but it also acts as a crucial fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art and its Costume Institute. The Costume Institute is, after all, the only department in the museum responsible for its own funding, and the money it raises every year at the gala goes toward next year’s blockbuster exhibition and the institute’s operational budget.
What most people get wrong is conflating the theme of the exhibition with the dress code for the evening. In 2019, for instance, when the exhibition was “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” many thought the dress code was simply Camp, but it was actually Studied Triviality.
It’s an easy enough mistake to make. Why wouldn’t they be the same? That would theoretically make the most sense, though the truth is that some Costume Institute exhibitions hold themes that are too conceptual or perhaps entirely too researched—as they should be!—to materialize as something as straightforward as a dress code. Even last year’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which explored Black dandy-ism and the nuances of self-presentation within the history of the African American experience, was simplified for the context of the evening. The dress code was, simply, Tailored for You, and it invited attendees to play with the notion of the dandy by way of tailoring. Simple and sweet, it made for some of the best Met Gala looks in recent memory.
This year’s spring exhibition is titled “Costume Art,” and it explores the myriad ways in which fashion, over the course of its history, has crossed over with fine arts by way of highlighting the “dressed body,” per curator Andrew Bolton.
The dress code, Fashion Is Art, is just ambiguous enough to allow for a variety of interpretations—I’ve heard about two attendees who are directly referencing famous paintings. It’s also more straightforward than the exhibition theme. That’s in line with what the best Met Gala dress codes do: They simplify and bite-size the exhibit to make for an entertaining, and not overly intellectual, gala.
