2026 Met Gala Dress Code Revealed: 'Fashion Is Art'

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The 2026 Met Gala is poised to become a striking celebration of craftsmanship and artistic mastery, following the unveiling of this year’s dress code. On Monday, February 23, the Met announced “Fashion Is Art” as the official theme, a directive designed to echo the spirit of the spring exhibition “Costume Art” at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

First revealed in November, the exhibition will mark the inauguration of the Institute’s first permanent gallery space at the museum. Set to occupy the nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, located adjacent to The Met’s Great Hall, the showcase will bring almost 400 objects. It pairs the Costume Institute’s historical and contemporary garments with paintings, sculptures, and other works spanning 5,000 years of art history.

According to reports from Vogue and People, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, Andrew Bolton, emphasized the universality of dress within the museum’s walls. “What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” he explained.

Bolton further explained on the exhibition’s conceptual breakthrough: “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was, this epiphany: I know that we’ve often been seen as the stepchild, but, in fact, the dressed body is front and center in every gallery you come across. Even the nude is never naked. It’s always inscribed with cultural values and ideas.”

In that spirit, the 2026 Met Gala dress code invites attendees to approach fashion not as mere attire, but as a living artwork. The theme challenges designers and celebrities alike to treat the body as a canvas.

The announcement of this year’s theme arrived just two months after the Gala’s annual co-chairs were revealed, per Yahoo! Entertainment. Joining Vogue’s global editorial director Anna Wintour are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams as co-chairs. The Gala Host Committee will include Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz as co-chairs, alongside members 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, A’ja Wilson, and Yseult.

The 2026 Met Gala will unfold on May 4, before ushering in the public opening of the “Costume Art” exhibition, on view from May 10 to January 10, 2027.

Read: BAFTA Film Awards 2026: Full List of Winners

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News