The Met Gala, that annual spectacle of celebrity and couture that dominates social media every May, has revealed its 2026 theme: Fashion is Art. Beyonce, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour will co-chair the event, which takes place on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
I will be honest with you: I have mixed feelings about the Met Gala at the best of times. It is part museum fundraiser, part fashion show, and part exercise in seeing which celebrity can attract the most attention by wearing something that barely qualifies as clothing. But the money it raises funds the Costume Institute, and the theme this year at least acknowledges what many have argued for decades, that fashion belongs in the conversation about art.
The dress code invites “guests to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.” If that sounds like it gives celebrities carte blanche to wear absolutely anything, that is because it does.
Other stars named for the event include Zoe Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, and Teyana Taylor. Former Vogue editor Anna Wintour, as always, handpicked the group. The spring exhibition, Costume Art, opens May 10 in The Met’s new 12,000 square foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall.
Max Hollein, The Met’s chief executive, said the exhibition will “present a dynamic and scholarly conversation between garments from the Costume Institute and an array of artworks from across The Met’s collection.” It promises to position fashion within the context of 5,000 years of art history, which is no small ambition.
Whether you see the Met Gala as high culture or high nonsense probably says more about you than about the event itself. What is beyond dispute is that it generates enormous attention, raises significant money for a worthy institution, and gives us all something to talk about on a Monday morning in May. And given the state of the world these days, perhaps that is enough.