What’s the best Met Gala theme of all time? It’s a fun litmus test for anyone who loves fashion, art, and celebrities (or all of the above!)—and a tough question indeed. The theme of the annual fundraising event aligns with the yearly spring exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, and it informs the dress code. For the Met Gala 2026, the theme is “Costume Art,” and the dress code is “Fashion is Art.”
So what can we expect to see from this year’s attendees? Will it be naked dressing all the way? Trompe l’oeil looks, like Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature graphic bodycon dresses? Statuesque gowns? Tune in to Vogue’s exclusive red carpet livestream, hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony, and Cara Delevingne, plus returning red carpet correspondent Emma Chamberlain, on Monday, May 4, to find out.
In the meantime, below, check out each year’s Met Gala theme dating back to 1995, the first year that Anna Wintour became a chair of the event.
2026: “Costume Art”
Hosted by co-chairs Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, this year’s Met Gala celebrates the Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art.” The event—which is a fundraiser for the Costume Institute—will also inaugurate the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space on the first floor of the museum, which will serve as the permanent home of the Costume Institute. This spring’s exhibition will consider depictions of the dressed body from across the museum’s curatorial departments, pairing art objects with garments.
2025: “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”
Last year’s Met Gala was a celebration of the Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” It was organized by head curator Andrew Bolton with guest curator Monica Miller, professor and chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College and Columbia University and author of the prizewinning 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. Bolton referred to the 2022 death of legendary Black dandy and longtime Vogue editor André Leon Talley as “the catalyst for the show,” and several guests paid tribute to Talley with looks that explored the finer points of suiting and tailoring (all too apropos, given that the exhibition was the first since 2003 to focus exclusively on menswear).
Photo: Getty Images
Rihanna in Marc Jacobs
