Met Gala themes by year: every theme, the dress codes, and where 2027 stands

The Met Gala has had a theme every year since 1973, with a handful of exceptions, and the theme is never an invention of the party itself. It is the title or subject of the Costume Institute's spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which the gala opens. That is the key to understanding every Met Gala theme, and it is also why the 2027 theme is currently an open question. Here is how the themes have worked, which ones defined the event, and where things stand now.

How a theme is set

The Costume Institute plans its spring show well ahead. The gala, formally the Costume Institute Benefit, takes place on the first Monday in May, and the museum says the proceeds provide the Costume Institute with its primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and operations. Because the exhibition drives the theme, a gala theme is almost always a museum subject first and a red carpet instruction second.

Guests are expected, but not required, to follow the theme. More recently the Met has added a separate dress code, a short phrase that tells guests how to interpret the exhibition. Those codes have included "The Garden of Time" in 2024, "tailored for you" in 2025 and "Fashion is Art" in 2026, per the list of Met Galas on Wikipedia and the Met's February 24, 2026 announcement.

The themes that changed the event

The first themed benefit was "The World of Balenciaga" on March 21, 1973. Through the 1980s the Institute honored designers and eras: Yves Saint Laurent in 1983, a tribute to Diana Vreeland in 1987. Anna Wintour is listed among the co-chairs from the 1995 "Haute Couture" benefit onward, according to the Wikipedia list. Later landmarks include "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years" in 2001, "The House of Chanel" in 2005, "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" in 2011 and "Punk: Chaos to Couture" in 2013.

The 2010s gave the event its modern, high-concept shape: "China: Through the Looking Glass" in 2015, "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" in 2016, "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between" in 2017, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" in 2018 and "Camp: Notes on Fashion" in 2019. The 2020 edition, "About Time: Fashion and Duration," was planned for May 4, 2020 and canceled.

The recent run, with dress codes

• 2021 (September 13): In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.
• 2022 (May 2): In America: An Anthology of Fashion.
• 2023 (May 1): Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.
• 2024 (May 6): Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, dress code The Garden of Time.
• 2025 (May 5): Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, dress code tailored for you.
• 2026 (May 4): Costume Art, dress code Fashion is Art.

The Met's own announcement describes Costume Art as a show that examines "the centrality of the dressed body," pairing garments with works of art across the museum's collection. It ran at the Met Fifth Avenue from May 10, 2026 through January 10, 2027. For the looks themselves, see our credited list of the 2026 Met Gala looks.

What happened to the 2027 theme

In August 2026 the Met announced John Galliano: Horizons, a solo exhibition on the British designer, as its 2027 Costume Institute show. The announcement drew sharp criticism because of the antisemitic and racist remarks Galliano made in 2010 and 2011, which led to his dismissal from Dior and a conviction in France, according to the Associated Press.

On August 31, 2026, the Met and Galliano said the exhibition would not go ahead. Max Hollein said the museum and the designer had "together decided not to proceed." Galliano said, in the joint statement, that he remained "fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past." The AP reported that the museum would replace the show with another exhibition, with details to come later.

As of October 13, 2026, we found no announcement of a replacement exhibition or theme. The Wikipedia list shows the May 3, 2027 gala with the theme to be announced. The AP also noted a scheduling wrinkle: the traditional first Monday in May falls on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2027, and there had been speculation the museum might move the date. Neither a new date nor a new theme has been confirmed in anything we could open.

How to read a "2027 theme" headline

Be skeptical. Until the Met publishes a release, any named 2027 theme is a guess by a fashion outlet, a betting market or a social account. The signals that will be real are the museum's own press release, a named exhibition title with dates, and an announced list of co-chairs. For reference, the 2026 co-chairs and dress code were announced on February 24, 2026, about ten weeks before the gala. If 2027 schedule follows that pattern, an announcement could come early next year, though the cancellation may delay it.

Who pays and why it matters

Tickets for the 2026 gala were listed at $100,000 on the Wikipedia table, up from $75,000 in 2025. For the finances, the guest list and what the money funds, read our explainer on who runs the Met Gala and who pays.

Our take

The theme list is a good map of how the Costume Institute thinks: it alternates between designer retrospectives, historical eras and broad ideas about the body and craft. The 2027 slot is the first in decades to have a public cancellation attached, which makes it the one to watch. Do not trust a rumored theme; wait for the museum's release.