Every year, the Met Gala asks fashion a question. Sometimes the question is literal, sometimes philosophical, and sometimes it feels like a dare whispered across the museum steps. For 2026, the inquiry turns inward, toward the body itself — the dressed body, the imagined body, the body as art — in a theme simply titled Costume Art.
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It is a theme pulled directly from the heart of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s vast collection, where paintings, sculptures, garments, and objects have always been in conversation even when we fail to notice it. Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, describes the exhibition as a way of reminding us that no matter which gallery you wander into — ancient, contemporary, European, African, or decorative arts — you are ultimately returning to the human form. Clothing, after all, is not simply worn; it transforms, interprets, protects, reveals.
So next May, when the world’s most photographed guests begin their slow ascent up those iconic steps, expect a kind of sartorial excavation. Imagine Rei Kawakubo’s inflation silhouettes shown beside Hans Bellmer’s unsettling photographs; a Fortuny gown shimmering next to the draped figure of a classical sculpture; garments placed not just near art, but in direct conversation with it. That is the promise of this exhibition — a merging of two languages that have always belonged to each other.
And yes, sheer dressing will return with a vengeance. This is a body-forward theme, one that will likely coax guests toward transparency, sculptural silhouettes, anatomical references, and perhaps even a return to pure drapery. With Saint Laurent sponsoring the exhibition, the red carpet may lean dark, sensual, disciplined — a gallery of living sculptures rendered in fabric and skin.
The night itself follows tradition: the first Monday in May, which falls on May 4 in 2026. The accompanying exhibition opens on May 10 and runs through January 10, 2027, marking one of the Costume Institute’s most ambitious pairings yet — nearly 200 artworks displayed alongside 200 garments and accessories, divided into three meditations: the omnipresent body, the overlooked body, and the universal body.
Bolton has made it clear that fashion remains the show’s anchor. Even the mannequins have been reimagined this year, their mirrored faces designed by artist Samar Hejazi to create a sense of mirrored empathy — as though the viewer is not simply looking at the garment but briefly sharing its presence.
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The exhibition will also open inside the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a sprawling 12,000-square-foot home for the Met’s fashion collection. If you have ever wandered the museum’s labyrinth in search of a Costume Institute show, this new space feels like a quiet promise: fashion, finally, gets a room of its own.
As for the celebrity hosts, the announcements remain under wraps, but Anna Wintour is expected to lead the night once more, joined by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos in their role as sponsors.
Fashion’s biggest night has always flirted with the idea of art. In 2026, it stops flirting and steps directly into the frame.
