Who Dressed Up (And Who Should Throw Their Dress Out) at the 2026 Met Gala

Janira Skrbkova

07.13.2026

Another Met Gala is in the books! Fashion’s biggest night of the year took place May 4 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art with hosts Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour. 

With a spring exhibition theme of “Costume Art” and an official Gala dress code of “Fashion is Art,” curators invited guests to explore the “complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform.”

Being the inaugural event at the museum’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, this year’s Met Gala was all the more significant. The Met Costume Institute will now house its annual spring exhibition in this new 12,000 square-foot space as well as shows from the Museum’s other curatorial departments.  

From painterly motifs to statuesque silhouettes, here’s a non-exhaustive list of the best- and worst-dressed stars of the evening.

Best:

Emma Chamberlain

Courtesy of Instagram

Influencer turned Hollywood personality Emma Chamberlain was first to arrive on the cream carpet and set standards high in custom Mugler. Stylist Jared Ellner sent Van Gogh and Munch works for reference, loosely shaping the feel of the look. Designed by Miguel Castro Freitas and handpainted by artist Anna Deller-Yee, the gown took 40 hours, 30 base colors and four days to dry. In fluid yellow brushstrokes that gave way to a dramatic deep blue train, Chamberlain undoubtedly stole the show.

Gracie Abrams

Courtesy of Instagram

Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams dazzled in a jeweled Chanel gown inspired by the work of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, most closely resembling “Woman in Gold” (1907) and “The Kiss” (1908), oil paintings enhanced with gold, silver and platinum leaf. Personally styled by Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy, Abrams was equally as luminous as Klimt’s original works. 

Janelle Monáe

Courtesy of Christian Siriano and Instagram

Multihyphenate star Janelle Monae stunned in a custom Christian Siriano gown made of cables and greenery. Monae took to Instagram to share that the look comprised live moss, eight succulents, butterfly and dragonfly animatronics, 5,000 black crystals, a motherboard and 230 electrical wires. Though arguably a slight departure from the night’s theme, Monae’s envirotech look was undeniably impressive.

Madonna

Courtesy of YSL and Instagram

Madonna pulled out all the stops in surrealist-inspired Yves Saint Laurent. Referencing painter Lenora Carrington’s “The Temptation of St. Antony. Fragment II” (1945), she arrived in all black with a battleship headpiece and a sheer gray cape that required seven (equally couture) helpers, just as depicted in Carrington’s original work. The drama! No notes.

Sam Smith

Courtesy of Instagram

English singer-songwriter Sam Smith arrived in what they called “a corset on the shoulders.”  In all its art deco glory, Smith’s winged gown took 2,000 hours of artisanal handsewing and 255,000 individual crystals and beads. Designer Christian Cowan, who is also Smith’s partner, found inspiration in fashion illustrator Erté’s opulent 1920s designs. “This is the heaviest thing I’ve ever worn in my life,” Smith said of the 52-pound gown. And, oh, are the embellishments and fur trim worth the heft. 

Heidi Klum

Courtesy of Instagram

If viewers can count on anyone to commit, it’s supermodel and costume party extraordinaire Heidi Klum. In an ode to sculptor Rafael Monti’s “Veiled Vestal” (1847), prosthetic makeup artist Mike Marino “transformed fabric into sculpture, manipulating latex and spandex with extraordinary precision to mirror the stillness, delicacy and illusion of carved marble,” Klum said on Instagram. And quite the transformation it was  — Klum was near unrecognizable. A+ for effort.

Honorable mentions: Chase Infiniti, Gwendoline Christie, John Imah, Rihanna and Sabrina Carpenter

Worst:

Lauren Sánchez Bezos

Courtesy of Instagram

All industry eyes were on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos given their roles as honorary co-chairs and co-sponsors of the Gala. Controversy stirred upon the February announcement of a Bezos-backed Met, some stars forgoing the event altogether. Bezos declined to walk the cream carpet, and Sánchez Bezos’ look did little to further their standing. Dressed in an off-the-shoulder Schiaparelli gown, Sanchez Bezos drew from one of the Met’s most famous paintings: John Singer Sargent’s “Madame X” (1884). Translated from canvas to the carpet, however, the gown was poorly-fitted and uninspired. Not even $250 billion can buy style. 

Anyone and Everyone in a Standard Suit or Tuxedo

Courtesy of Instagram

Adrien Brody, Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman — the list goes on. Where’s the thematic flair?

Cardi B

Courtesy of Marc Jacobs and Instagram

Cardi B stepped out in a sheer Marc Jacobs gown better suited for an episode of “Dr. Pimple Popper” than a night on the cream carpet. The rapper told reporters that she found muse in photographer Hans Bellmer’s 1930s series, “The Doll,” which disassembled and reconstructed the female form using life-sized mannequins. Instead of a surrealist rejection of Western beauty standards, however, the poofs of fabric on her shoulders, grotesquely gathered train and peach splotches peeking through black lace read like angry cysts. Yikes.

Katy Perry

Courtesy of Instagram

In opera gloves and a strapless Stella McCartney gown, singer-songwriter Katy Perry served Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” rather than haute couture. Accessorized with a reflective fencing helmet — which was “designed to be a literal and symbolic reflection that invites the observer to consider that their perception of others can mirror their own internal world,” according to a press release — and tarot cards, the look felt, ultimately, void of meaning, making only vague gestures at depth with a six-fingered glove intended to critique the pitfalls of AI. 

Doja Cat

Courtesy of Met Gala and Instagram

Rapper and singer Doja Cat, whose past Gala looks have been dependably striking, stepped out in an ensemble that resembled a soaking wet paper towel. Her silicone Yves Saint Laurent gown, draped to evoke the Met’s collection of ancient Greek statues, isn’t skin-toned enough to be passable and takes odd liberties with the positioning of its folds. 

Chloe Malle

Courtesy of Instagram

At her first Gala as head of editorial content at Vogue, Chloe Malle had big (Anna Wintour-sized) shoes to fill. Her Colleen Allen gown, however, inspired by painter Sir Frederic Leighton’s “Flaming June” (1895), underwhelmed. Better luck next year for one of fashion’s most highly-regarded offices.