Met Gala looks 2026: the Costume Art outfits, with designers credited

The looks from the 2026 Met Gala came down to one instruction: treat the outfit as art. The gala was held on Monday, May 4, 2026, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the dress code was "Fashion is Art," tied to the Costume Institute exhibition "Costume Art." Below are the Met Gala looks that the coverage we opened credits to a named designer, grouped by what they did with the brief, plus what the theme actually is and what we could not verify.

The theme and who hosted

The Met describes "Costume Art" as an exhibition that "examines the centrality of the dressed body throughout time and culture, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the Museum's vast collection to create pairings that highlight the indivisible connection between clothing and the body," a line The Hollywood Reporter quotes from the museum. The show opened to the public on May 10, 2026 and runs through January 10, 2027, according to Free Press Journal's report on the announcement. It inaugurates the Condé M. Nast Galleries, a 12,000-square-foot permanent space next to the Great Hall.

The co-chairs were Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos were honorary chairs, and the host committee was co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz, per The Hollywood Reporter. The Bezos sponsorship drew protest outside: Wikipedia's Met Gala entry records that the couple raised $10 million in donations to the museum and that demonstrators held a "Resistance Red Carpet" down the street.

The headline look: Beyoncé by Olivier Rousteing

Beyoncé returned to the carpet for the first time since 2016, when she wore Givenchy Haute Couture for "Manus x Machina." In 2026 she wore a diamond-encrusted dress made to look like a skeleton, with a matching headpiece, designed by Olivier Rousteing, the former head of Balmain. Her daughter Blue Ivy posed with her. Asked by Vogue on the carpet why Rousteing, she said he was "someone that's been so loyal to me," which is the reason she gave for choosing him, not a comment on the garment.

Looks that took "Fashion is Art" literally

Hola's carpet roundup credits several outfits that read as sculpture or as a nod to a specific artwork:

• Charli XCX wore Saint Laurent in a look Hola says was inspired by Van Gogh's fascination with lilies.
• Naomi Osaka wore a white dress with a matching headpiece by Robert Wun.
• Lauren Sánchez Bezos wore a royal blue Schiaparelli design by Daniel Roseberry, with Lorraine Schwartz jewelry.
• Venus Williams wore a glitter-covered design custom made by Swarovski.
• Rosé wore a black Saint Laurent dress with a bird silhouette at the waist.

Saint Laurent is the thread here. Vaccarello co-chaired the host committee and the house dressed Charli XCX, Rosé and Zoë Kravitz, whom Hola lists in a structured black lace dress. That is a house using the gala as a showroom, which is how the event has always worked.

Looks that stayed close to the house archive

Not every guest went conceptual. Hola credits Nicole Kidman with a red Chanel dress covered in sequins and feather details, and her daughter Sunday Rose with a floral-detailed Dior design for her Met Gala debut. Lena Dunham wore a red sequined and feathered Valentino design, and Tyla also wore Valentino. Amanda Seyfried wore pink Prada with Tiffany & Co. jewelry. Cara Delevingne wore a classic Ralph Lauren design, and Camila Morrone wore a satin Tory Burch look with a cape.

The menswear and the rest

Hola credits Bill Skarsgård with a Thom Browne suit and leather trench coat, and Maluma with a black two-piece by Tom Ford for Haider Ackermann. Sarah Pidgeon wore a made-to-measure Loewe two-piece, Gigi Hadid a sheer Miu Miu design, Emma Chamberlain a custom Mugler piece, and Ashley Graham a sheer DiPetsa look with Gianvito Rossi heels. Sam Smith wore Christian Cowan.

How to read the credits

Credits on a gala night come from stylists and publicists, and outlets repeat them. Beyoncé's credit to Olivier Rousteing is confirmed in her own words to Vogue, as The Hollywood Reporter quotes her. Every other designer name in this piece comes from one outlet, Hola, and we say so where it matters. We did not open the Met's own photo credits or any house's press page for individual looks, so treat those attributions as reported, not confirmed by the house. We also left out claims about stitch counts, jewel counts and hours of work, because none was traceable to a source we opened.

Two pieces of context help when you search for looks later. First, the dress code and the exhibition are different things: the dress code ("Fashion is Art") tells guests what to wear, and "Costume Art" is what hangs in the galleries. Second, the red carpet is a marketing event for the houses, so the most photographed look is not always the most wearable or the most important to the collection it came from.

Hype check

The claim in circulation is that the night's looks turned fashion into art. The evidence is narrower. A few credited looks cite a specific reference: a skeleton for Beyoncé, Van Gogh's lilies for Charli XCX, a sculptural headpiece for Osaka. Those are design ideas. Others, such as the Kidman Chanel with sequins and feathers, are recognizable evening wear from a major house. The brief gave houses cover to be theatrical, and the strongest looks used it for one clear idea.

Our take

If you want the strongest examples of the theme, start with Beyoncé's Rousteing skeleton, Osaka's Wun headpiece and Charli XCX's Saint Laurent. If you want to see how wearable the same houses can be, look at the Kidman Chanel and the Seyfried Prada. Watch the exhibition, which runs through January 10, 2027, and check the Met's official page for tickets and hours before you plan a trip. Next year's theme is not settled: Wikipedia records that the Met canceled its announced 2027 John Galliano exhibition on August 31, 2026, and a new theme will be announced later.