The glittering Met Gala, which heralds a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's fashion division in New York, has a traditional slot on the first Monday in May.
This year will be no different, with guests expected to arrive at the Fifth Avenue institution from 6pm on Monday (2am on Tuesday, UAE time).
Often referred to as the “Oscars of fashion”, the Met Gala is a glamorous showcase where designers and fashion houses create custom looks to reflect the year's theme. It is attended by actors, designers, models and, of course, the woman who has turned it into one of the biggest red-carpet events in the world, Anna Wintour.
Since taking over its handling in 1995, Wintour has made the gala one of fashion's most sought-after invitations, with tables priced at an estimated $350,000 and tickets starting at $100,000 this year, a sharp increase from 2025, when tickets were priced from $75,000.
Tickets are predominantly purchased by fashion houses that invite celebrities as guests who then dress in custom-made looks in keeping with the theme or are granted access to the brand's archives.
What form will Met Gala theme take this year?
This year's dress code, Fashion is art, is an echo of the Costume Institute exhibition titled Costume Art, which examines the intersection of art, fashion and the body, and is told via 400 objects spanning more than 5,000 years of human history.
The dress code for the Met Gala allows for wide interpretation and tackles the age-old question: Is fashion art?
It is a question designers have been trying to answer for decades, from the surrealist beauty of Schiaparelli under Daniel Roseberry to Dior's autumn/winter 2004 couture show, when then-creative director John Galliano drew on the golden statues of Ancient Egypt for a spectacular, gilded collection.
Alexander McQueen had robots spray-paint a dress live on the runway of his spring/summer 1999 show, while Coperni painted a dress directly on to model Bella Hadid to open its spring/summer 2023 show.
Thierry Mugler crafted a look for his 1995 couture show inspired by the 15th-century painting The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, which was later worn by Cardi B at the 2019 Grammys. Vivienne Westwood famously decorated her corsets with paintings by 18th-century French Rococo artist Francois Boucher.
In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent recreated the block painting of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian on a sack dress, while, more recently, Tracee Ellis Ross arrived at the 2019 Met Gala in a Moschino look, featuring a long black dress topped with a golden picture frame.
Designers such as Viktor & Rolf, Rei Kawakubo and Jean Paul Gaultier, meanwhile, have dedicated their careers to pushing the boundaries of what constitutes fashion, leaning ever further towards intellectual dialogue.
Prada, meanwhile, has joined the likes of Louis Vuitton and Hermes in establishing its own art foundation, while cinema and fashion are frequent bedfellows: Givenchy dressed Audrey Hepburn in many of her roles, and the relationship is reflected in innumerable films about the fashion industry – from brands coming on board to dress actors in Blow-Up (1966), Phantom Thread (2017) and The Devil Wears Prada films.
Who is attending in 2026?
More than 450 people are expected to attend the Met Gala, which also acts as a fundraiser for the Costume Institute. This year's co-chairs include Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and Beyonce, alongside Wintour.
This year's host committee, headed by Saint Laurent's creative director Anthony Vaccarello and actress Zoe Kravitz, includes Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, Lisa from Blackpink, Elizabeth Debicki and Lena Dunham.
Some other guests expected to attend include Bad Bunny, Kim Kardashian, Lewis Hamilton, Kendall Jenner, Isha Ambani, Katy Perry, Karlie Kloss, Sam Smith, Sombr, Hudson Williams and Romeo Beckham.
This year's event is not without controversy, however. The event will also open the Conde Nast Galleries, funded in part by a $10 million donation from Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, who are expected to attend.
Some celebrities are expected to skip this year's event, including Devil Wears Prada 2 star Meryl Streep. While Streep and Zendaya, who is also thought to be missing the event, have not commented, online commentators have called into question Amazon's link to the event.
One person wrote on X: “I just want to remind everyone that the Met Gala’s lead sponsor this year is Amazon, which supports ICE and provides infrastructure that helps target and terrorise our neighbours and communities.”
Others cite poor working conditions at Bezos' company, anticompetitive business practices and tax avoidance strategies, as well as a widening inequality gap linked to the billionaire's involvement in the arts.
Wintour, who is now the global chief content officer of Conde Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, stepped down as editor-in-chief of US Vogue in June after 37 years.
She chose to put Sanchez on the cover of her final Vogue issue, signalling the bond between herself, Conde Nast and the Amazon founder and his wife, and the growing influence they exert over the magazine empire. Last year, there were rumours that Bezos was looking to purchase Conde Nast as a wedding gift for his wife.
