The Met Gala was held on Monday, May 4, 2026, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, celebrating the Costume Institute's spring exhibition 'Costume Art' under the dress code 'Fashion Is Art', per the Met's press materials. The exhibition opens to the public on May 10, 2026, and runs through January 10, 2027 in the museum's newly inaugurated Condé M. Nast galleries. Co-chairs for the night included Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, per the museum's announcements.
What is 'Costume Art' actually about?
Per the Met's exhibition description, the show explores depictions of the dressed body across the museum's collection — pairing historical garments with paintings and sculpture to show how clothing and the body have been inseparable in art for centuries. Unlike theme years built around a single designer or era, this is a concept show: expect corseted bodices next to portraits, drapery studies next to the garments that inspired them. It is also the first Costume Institute exhibition in the new Condé M. Nast galleries, which makes it a landmark for how the museum will display fashion from now on — more gallery space means more garments on view than the Costume Institute's famously cramped basement shows allowed.
The gala itself follows its usual script — a carpet, a co-chair list engineered for headlines, and interpretations of the dress code ranging from scholarly to unrecognizable. The durable part is on the museum's walls, not the stairs.
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What it changes for your wardrobe and budget
Museum shows like this move the high street with about a six-month lag. 'Costume Art' is a body-and-drapery show, so expect corsetry details, exposed boning, sculptural draping and bias-cut slip dresses to filter into Zara-level price points by autumn. If you want the look now without the markup, secondhand and vintage corseted pieces are still priced below what the high street will charge for the trend by October.
The detail most coverage skipped: tickets. Exhibition entry is included with Met admission, and New York residents can pay-what-you-wish — per the museum's admissions policy — so the most-hyped fashion exhibition of the year costs less than a coffee if you plan around the tourist hours. The queue is shortest on weekday afternoons; the first weeks after a gala opening are the busiest the show will ever be.