The Met Gala took place on Monday, May 4, 2026, and its dress code was "Fashion is Art." That phrase is the key to most of the outfits people still search for: designers were cast as artists, and the guest's body was the canvas, according to W Magazine's guide to the event.
The theme behind the clothes
The Costume Institute's spring exhibition is called "Costume Art". W Magazine describes it as a show about "the centrality of the dressed body" in the museum's collection. Curator in charge Andrew Bolton arranged it in three groups: bodies that run through art history (the nude), overlooked bodies (pregnant and aging) and universal bodies (the anatomical body).
The co-chairs were Beyonce, Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams. Anthony Vaccarello and Zoe Kravitz led the host committee, and Saint Laurent sponsored the exhibition.
For a guest, that meant a dress could not simply be expensive. It had to say something about the body, which explains the sheer fabrics, sculpted shapes and art-history references that W expected before the night.
Looks named by the press
Dazed's red carpet roundup names the following. Most of its 40-image gallery carries no outfit text, so this table lists only what the article states.
| Guest | Designer or brand | What was reported |
|---|---|---|
| Rihanna | Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela | Custom gown, described as dazzling |
| Beyonce | Olivier Rousteing | Diamond-encrusted skeletal gown |
| Madonna | Not named | Seven models each held a corner of her train |
| Bad Bunny | Not named | Appeared as "Old Bunny," aged by 53 years |
Source: Dazed
Rankings of best dressed differ from outlet to outlet, so no single list settles it. Earlier years on this site make a useful comparison: the 2022 Met Gala beauty note and the 2019 red carpet arrival of Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre show how much the theme steers the carpet each year.
What it means for a reader
The exhibition runs from May 10, 2026 through January 10, 2027, per W Magazine, so the garments behind the theme can still be seen in person in New York. The museum is also opening the Conde M. Nast Galleries, about 12,000 square feet beside the Great Hall, as the permanent home of its fashion collection.
For anyone searching for Met Gala outfits, the practical way to read the carpet is to start from the dress code and then look at each guest's reference: a sculpture, a skeleton, a stage persona. The looks above are the ones with a named designer in the sources; everything else is gallery material without captions.