If there’s one night celebrities are officially allowed to be extra, it’s theMet Gala.
The theme for the2026 Met Galaand concurrent spring 2026 museum exhibition was “Costume Art.” And the best-dressed stars took this year’s “Fashion is Art” dress code very seriously.
The guests didn’t just dress up. They turned themselves into walking masterpieces, pulling inspiration from paintings, history lessons, and even their own personal lives.
One carried a mango on the Met steps, while another admitted their Met Gala prep included petting a donkey..
Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman posed with her daughter on the carpet and said, “She had to go to school tomorrow morning.”
Here’s a roundup of the best looks from the 2026 Met Gala.
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Lauren Sánchez Bezos revisited a controversy with her 2026 Met Gala outfit.Arriving solo without her billionaire husband Jeff Bezos, the author and philanthropist wore a navy Schiaparelli gown inspired by one of the most famous portraits in The Met’s collection: Madame X by John Singer Sargent.The 1883 painting once caused an uproar for showing its subject, French socialite Madame Pierre Gautreau, wearing a black fitted gown that had one strap slipping off her shoulder.The scandalous painting was kept hidden by Sargent for three decades until he directly sold it The Met.“When you stand in front of it now, you see a beautiful woman,” Sánchez Bezos toldVogue.“For me, the image represents how fashion and cultural standards can shift over time. Today, a strap is a strap, but back when Madame X was painted by Sargent, a strap was a scandal.”
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Emma Chamberlain decided tobea painting for the 2026 Met Gala.With the help of two people to carry her dress, the model and influencer showed up as a literal canvas, wearing a custom Mugler gown by Miguel Castro Freitas.The dress, hand-painted by Chicago-born artist Anna Deller-Yee, took 40 hours to paint and another four full days to dry.“I’m somebody who really believes that fashion is art,” she toldVoguea couple of days before the event.“My dad is an oil painter and a watercolor painter, and I grew up in a very creative household with art all over my house,” the influencer said as she explained how her family and her love for art inspired her outfit.
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It was a rare mother-daughter moment on the Met steps as Nicole Kidman arrived with her daughter Sunday Rose, who made her first appearance at the annual fashion event.The 58-year-old actress, who is co-chairing the event alongside Beyoncé, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour, wore a custom Chanel by Matthieu Blazy gown in a shade of deep red.The sequined gown took 800 hours to make and had feathers around the hips and cuffs.Her 17-year-old daughter made her debut in a sugary pink Dior ensemble.“I wanted something red because I wanted to embrace the way in which red has been used in art through the years,” Kidman said duringVogue’slivestream. “I feel that it's a strong symbol of love, for passionate love, for power and motherhood.”
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Venus Williams showed up in full icon mode and, for the first time, was seen posing on the Met Gala red carpet with her husband Andrea Preti.The tennis star has been a regular guest at the annual event and served as a co-chair this year.As for the inspiration behind her outfit, she simply had to look in the mirror.She wore a Swarovski crystal mesh gown inspired by Robert Pruitt’sVenus Williams, Double Portrait (2022), a portrait of herself commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery.“It reflects not just my journey but the legacy of those who came before me—especially pioneers like Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, who paved the way,” she toldVogue. “It felt like a personal way to connect with ‘Costume Art’—using fashion to tell a story about legacy and progress and honoring those who made it possible.”
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Even fabric can be used like clay. Exhibit A: Christine Beauchamp’s structural red gown.The businesswoman wore a vibrant, tiered crimson lace ensemble with a sculptural ruff that literally framed her face.
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Amy Griffin wore a sleek, one-shouldered crimson gown with a plunging neckline and a flowy train trailing behind her.The American venture capitalist and author kept the look sleek, pairing the dress with a chunky silver cuff and a no-drama hairdo.
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It was straight out of the office and straight onto the Met steps for Gayle King.The CBS Mornings co-host, 71, said she got ready at the Oprah Daily offices in a video shared on social media.King dressed up in a gold Christian Siriano gown with matching accessories and carried a fan-shaped purse wrapped in golden silk.“You know, fashion is art. I got the assignment,” King quipped in the social media video as her team cheered her on for the big appearance.
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Sarina Sanandaji made a polished statement in a crystal-covered gown.The sheer paneling added just enough drama to keep the look memorable for the New York-based communications and brand strategy executive.
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At the age of 17, Nicole Kidman’s daughter Sunday Rose accompanied her mother in a lilac floral Dior gown with a billowing bodice.“[My look] is really special to me because I wanted to symbolize something blooming [for] my first Met,” she said duringVogue’slivestream.Her famous mother said the teen model has been “so calm through the whole thing.”“She had to go to school tomorrow morning, by 8 a.m. Keeping it real,” added theBabygirlactress.
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Chase Sui Wonders looked “wrapped and ready” for her very first Met Gala ever.The Studioactress, 29, balanced softness and statement, wearing a lavender McQueen dress with a sleeveless high-neck gown and an oversized bow dangling over her right shoulder.She said her look was a “nod to ancient Rome.”“I took a trip to Pompei recently,” she toldE! News. “I loved these wall reliefs. There were all these ancient Roman wall paintings from like, 200 B.C. and I loved how they were just so raw and natural and yet so beautiful and all these natural pigments.”“They're still so well preserved,” added the actress, wearing over 32 carats of diamonds as part of her look.
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Cristina Baxter didn’t go for shock value. And it seems to have worked in her favor.The music-industry executive and talent agent’s strapless, softly shimmering gown proved that understated can still be unforgettable.
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Colombian superstar Maluma said he kept his “dream” Met Gala look a secret from his family this year.Dressed in a Haider Ackermann suit, said he is going back to his Colombian roots with his outfit and chose a designer born in his native country.“Now I’m chasing the Colombian dream and going back to my roots,” he toldETabout his look.When his family asked him to send pictures of his look, he said he told them, “not this time. I want you guys to wait to watch it.”
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Indian billionaire heir, 34, Isha M. Ambani shimmered on the carpet in a golden sari and a sculptural cape that framed her head.More than 1,200 hours and the craftsmanship of 25 artisans went into creating her custom Gaurav Gupta sari.“It's a hand-woven sari, and the blouse is full of my mother's jewelry,” Isha said duringVogue’slivestream.“And then this cape is by Gaurav Gupta,” she went on to say, “and it's supposed to be like a sculptural element to the sari.”“It's like 20 years old,” she continued. “I think when we thought about it, and, you know, fashion is art, we were like, ‘Oh, like … for me as an Indian, it was like the ultimate, like, symbol of art form.’”Ambani was also holding a mango in her hand and for people wondering, she clarified that it was actually a sculpture by Indian artist Subodh Gupta.
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Connor Storrie said he was “really not nervous” to be attending the Met Gala for the first time.“I’m excited to see everyone’s looks. I’m excited to meet some people that I haven’t met before. I mean, a lot of people go, right?” he toldGQahead of the event.TheHeated Rivalrystar, 26, was dressed in a Saint Laurent black suit and, after hitting the steps, removed his blazer to flaunt a polka-dotted top.“We went with a very classic Saint Laurent silhouette: a smoking jacket, super-wide shoulder, very black, very, very classic YSL,” he told the outlet.“A wide, uber-straight leg. And then I have this floor-length bow that falls off the back of it. It’s like a p*ssy-bow top without the sleeves, but then the bow goes in the back and it creates this waterfall train that’s underneath the blazer that we will reveal,” he continued. “So you get kind of a two-beat moment. It’s super-duper YSL, super Saint Laurent.”
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If there’s one night celebrities are officially allowed to be extra, it’s theMet Gala. The theme for the2026 Met Galaand concurren...
