After closing out 2025 with news of Beyoncé’s highly anticipated return to the Met’s red carpet and as a first-time co-chair (though she has served as an honorary chair in the past), the Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled “Costume Art” as the official theme for the 2026 Met Gala.
The star-studded event, often called fashion’s biggest night, will take place May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, with a dress code of “Fashion is
Art,” Vogue reports. The theme announcement comes after Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour were revealed as the event’s official co-chairs, and as Angela Bassett was added to the host committee.The “Fashion is Art” dress code reflects the vision behind “Costume Art,” an exhibition that examines the “centrality of the dressed body” through interpretations of the human form drawn from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s vast collection. Featuring nearly 400 pieces, the show will fill the museum’s new Condé Nast Galleries near the Great Hall, pairing Costume Institute fashion with paintings, sculptures, and artworks spanning roughly 5,000 years.
This year’s theme encourages guests to treat fashion as a canvas, exploring how designers shape identity and expression through the body.
“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Andrew Bolton, the curator in charge of the Costume Institute, said. “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was.”
As previously revealed, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour will be joined by a Gala Host Committee co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz. The committee includes stars such as Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Alex Consani, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Paloma Elsesser, LISA, Chloe Malle, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, Lauren Wasser, Anna Weyant, and A’ja Wilson, as well as Yseult.
Newly announced co-chairs include Adut Akech, Angela Bassett, Sinéad Burke, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Mullins, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sherald, and Chase Sui Wonders, while lead sponsors Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos will serve as honorary chairs for the gala and exhibition.
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