“Art isn’t easy”, Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George, 1984
Anyone interested in fashion must be interested in the Met Gala. It’s not a question of liking or disliking it; it’s about who is there, and which designers are dressing them, at what is one of the most widely watched and commented-upon fashion events in the world.
Interestingly, the story is oddly unbalanced by the fact that the event itself is a mixture of glamour, designer name-dropping, luxury fashion, gala or awards ceremony style, and what one might call “fancy dress”. It’s all meant to be themed around each year’s exhibition, although the gala has a separate but related title. Of course, the two final elements to add when observing the Met Gala are to remember that it raises funds to support the costume side of the museum, and that the completely separate exhibition itself attracts vast crowds and runs for several months. Oh, and there is also a lavish and widely distributed book accompanying the exhibition.
I’m going to get the exhibition out of the way first. I confess I am a little confused by the body diversity and art juxtaposition of all I’ve seen so far. It’s not so much about art as we understand paintings and sculpture in galleries or museums, but about how artists in Western cultures view the body of the subjects they portray.
This was further complicated by the actual gala theme being “Fashion is Art”, which is, to my mind, a totally different proposition, and I suspect will confuse attendees at the exhibition over the coming months. Many guests were therefore working with designers to interpret paintings or sculptures, and close analysis of the literally dozens of fashion looks worn by the around 450 guests at this year’s gala showed an amazing variety.
However, I’m still going to start with some background information before we get to this year’s shenanigans. It’s important to realise the context today of the fundraising Met Gala and its purpose.
The extraordinary publicist Eleanor Lambert first instigated a fundraising dinner for the Metropolitan Museum in New York and its costume collection, then the Costume Institute, back in 1948. Up until 1971, the event was one of many such smart fundraising events in New York and was held at various glittering venues such as the Waldorf Astoria.
Then, when Diana Vreeland became consultant in 1971, a title that barely suggests her impact on the place, she moved it up a good few notches, with Jacqueline Kennedy as the first guest of honour, and the event becoming increasingly glamorous. It moved to the museum itself, and themes were introduced alongside more and more glamorous and global attendees each year. The event was then held in December.
Anna Wintour, who took over in 1995, has now moved the event into the fashion stratosphere, and it has become a cult event even for non-fashion people, renowned for its extravagance and its demands. The costs are legendary, the rules, the committee and the main names all change each year, and the final figures of money raised for the costume collection are extraordinary. Attendance of the exhibition the event actually launches is phenomenal, and some exhibitions travel, like the Alexander McQueen show, which was revamped and went to the V&A in London. The First Monday in May is now the date, as well as the title of a film released in 2016, directed by Andrew Rossi, showing the behind-the-scenes creation of the 2015 exhibition “China: Through the Looking Glass”.
It’s perhaps worth offering you the Wikipedia entry for the event as it now stands. Technically, the appellation “haute couture” is only awarded via the FHCM in Paris, and certainly many of the outfits shown at the event fail to pass this test.
“The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala is popularly regarded as the world’s most prestigious and glamorous fashion event. Attendees are given the opportunity to express themselves through fashion, often producing elaborate and highly publicised outfits inspired by the evening’s theme and broader cultural context. The event is known as ‘fashion’s biggest night’, where ‘haute couture intersects with history to create the ultimate cultural moment – all in the name of art’. An invitation is highly sought after. Personalities who are perceived to be culturally relevant to contemporary society amongst various professional spheres, including fashion, film, television, music, theatre, business, sports, social media, and politics, are invited to attend the Met Gala, organised by the fashion magazine Vogue.”
My job is to look at the hundreds of images coming through, over two hundred on Vogue alone, and see what fashion stories or thematic groups might appear in response to the title. Obviously, who wore what matters, as does how designers, given the opportunity to go mad, respond when the look is only worn once, for a few hours, and never has to sell. They can truly let their creativity loose.
The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition explores depictions of the dressed body across The Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.
Focusing primarily on Western art from prehistory to the present, Costume Art presents connections between garments from The Costume Institute and objects from the Museum’s other collecting areas. Pairings between fashions and artworks will present a spectrum of connections and experiences: from the formal to the conceptual, the aesthetic to the political, the individual to the universal, the illustrative to the symbolic, and the playful to the profound. These pairings are organised into a series of thematic body types that reflect their pervasiveness and endurance through time and cultures.
Costume Art is the inaugural exhibition in the new, nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall. This space will display The Costume Institute’s annual spring show and, at times, shows from the Museum’s other curatorial departments, including those that explore the intersection of fashion and art.
Many of the men opted for black and understatement, it must be said, also with a certain elegance. I thought this was an important style direction of “less is more”, and also a slightly retro feeling, with the air of gentlemen. In this list, I noted the following: Robert Denning, Joe Burrow in Bode, Bad Bunny in Bad Bunny with Zara, Justin Jefferson in Who Decides War, Jaafar Jackson in Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Maluma in Haider Ackermann for Tom Ford, Jay-Z in Louis Vuitton, Mondo Duplantis, Danny Ramirez in Michael Kors, Romeo Beckham in Burberry, Rami Malek in Saint Laurent, Joe Alwyn in Valentino, Hero Fiennes Tiffin in Valentino, Dwayne Johnson in Thom Browne, Connor Storrie in Saint Laurent, Patrick Schwarzenegger in Public School, Paul Anthony Kelly in Dior and Tom Francis in Todd Snyder.
There was a large group of women who looked gorgeous but have also been criticised by many online commentators and platforms as looking as though they were at an awards ceremony. Still, they looked fabulously beautiful, which is also a fashion statement of huge value. The influence of art was there in some cases, but very understated in the subtlety of its referencing. I think it’s very interesting, this link between the elegance in many forms of the men and the elegance of the women. Choosing to attend, but not going down the extravaganza route, simply looking great. I note in my selection the following: Lila Moss in Connor Ives, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Burberry, Julianne Moore in Bottega Veneta, Nicole Kidman in Chanel, Ayesha Curry in Balenciaga, Cara Delevingne in Ralph Lauren, Teyana Taylor in Haider Ackermann for Tom Ford, Loli Bahia in Saint Laurent, Tessa Thompson in Valentino, Rebecca Hall in Tom Ford, Coco Jones in Prabal Gurung, Anok Yai in Balenciaga, Margot Robbie in Chanel, Amy Griffin in Saint Laurent, Laura Pascal in Cult Gaia, Chloe Malle in Colleen Allen, Charlotte Effron, Amy Fine Collins, Chioma Nnadi in Steve O Smith and Tiffany Raja.
The body and the nude were definitely a huge theme and a popular choice with a large group. There were many variations, and some were merely about body-conscious drapery or sheer fabrics, but the best embraced couture techniques, corsetry and construction, and a certain moulding of both the wearer’s body and the fabric selected. Shimmer and shine outweighed glitz and sparkle in most of these looks, which was an interesting design element. I noted Ashley Graham in Di Petsa as a personal favourite in this group. Others included Kim Kardashian encased in the artwork of Allen Jones and Whitaker Malem, Kylie Jenner in Schiaparelli by Daniel Roseberry, Hailey Bieber in Saint Laurent, the brilliant surprise of Mr Jeremy Pope in Vivienne Westwood, Alex Consani in Gucci by Demna, Laura Harrier in Di Petsa and Kendall Jenner in Zac Posen for GAP Studio.
Finally, there was a group whose looks cleverly blended art, fashion, the body and beauty in a winning combination. It was, as always, also fascinating to count up the number of looks many of the top names in couture or custom-made fashion had each dressed. Extravagance and volume with rich embellishments were also matched by handwork, hand-painting, intense embroidery and amazing construction. In fact, of course, in purely fashion terms, these looks were “works of art”.
I’d highlight the following out of the hundreds of images I searched: Alexa Chung in Dior, Cardi B in Marc Jacobs, Madonna in Saint Laurent, Sabrina Carpenter in Dior, Beyoncé in Olivier Rousteing, Rihanna in Maison Margiela, Katy Perry in Stella McCartney, Sarah Paulson in Matières Fécales, Chase Infiniti in Thom Browne, Lisa in Robert Wun, Anne Hathaway in Michael Kors, Eileen Gu in Iris van Herpen, Cai Xukun in Thom Browne, Y-Chi Lyra in her own design created by the Jean-Paul Gaultier Studio, Sam Smith, Ben Platt in Tanner Fletcher, Colman Domingo in Valentino, Janelle Monáe in Christian Siriano, Raul Lopez in Luar, Gustav Magnar Witzøe in Robert Wun, and Sam Smith in direct homage to Erté in Christian Cowan.
Then we have Audrey Nuna, Jordan Roth, Lisa and Naomi Osaka, who were all in extraordinary looks by the wonderful Robert Wun. Manish Malhotra wore an amazing design of his own creation and dressed Karan Johar, Sudha Reddy and Isha M. Ambani. I adored the wildly goth look of Loik Gomez in Gucci by Demna, and was ravished by Yseult in Harris Reed. However, like many, I was swept away by the beauty of Emma Chamberlain in Mugler by Miguel Castro Freitas. Paying both homage to Mugler and his fascination with insect life, and the La Chimère dress, in a word: stunning.
One thing I noted was that, with the less famous attendees, credits to the designers were unavailable, so I apologise for a few gaps.
So, keep trawling through the images and clips, make up your own mind and have your own list of best looks and favourites. We will now have to wait some months until next year’s information is forthcoming. According to Andrew Bolton, the morning after the gala, Anna Wintour phones him to know what he has in mind for the following year.
