The Super Bowl of fashion is living up to its moniker.
The Met Gala is officially underway as A-list actors, global pop stars and tech titans alike grace the Metropolitan Museum’s grand staircase. The gala’s theme, “Costume Art,” honors the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition on the role of the dressed body in the history of art. The show inaugurates the new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries.
This year’s abstract dress code, “Fashion Is Art,” encourages guests to treat the body as a canvas and “to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form.” So if there ever were a time to wear an archival John Galliano naked dress or a Thom Browne body paint gown, it’s now.
Naked dresses were aplenty on Monday night. Irina Shayk and Gigi Hadid embraced the undying trend, while Kylie and Kendall Jenner opted for coordinated looks that gave the illusion of nudity. Emma Chamberlain opened the gala with a bang in a hand-painted Mugler gown while Rihanna was fashionably late in a custom John Galliano creation for Maison Margiela. Stars including Chase Infiniti in Thom Browne, Gracie Abrams in Chanel, Rachel Zegler in Prabal Gurung and Ben Platt in Tanner Fletcher were on the nose with looks inspired by specific artwork while others had less literal interpretations with masks, blindfolds, elaborate beading, molded busts and sculptural looks.
Co-chaired by Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, Anna Wintour and Beyoncé, the latter returning to the gala after a 10-year hiatus, the event — an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute — was a night of sartorial excellence.
Rihanna and ASAP Rocky
Madonna
Blake Lively
Heidi Klum
Beyoncé
Kylie Jenner
Kendall Jenner
Hailey Bieber
Kim Kardashian
Sarah Paulson
Ben Platt
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Kate Moss
Rachel Zegler
Gracie Abrams
Margot Robbie
Chase Infiniti
Gabrielle Union
Sabrina Carpenter
Doechii
Rosé
Dree Hemingway
Connor Storrie
Olivia Wilde
Gigi Hadid
Naomi Osaka
Rebecca Hall
Eileen Gu
Katy Perry
Felicity Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt
Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo
Zoë Kravitz
Isha Ambani
Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste
Charli XCX
Gwendoline Christie
Sabine Getty
Jordan Roth
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster
Venus Williams
La La Anthony
Nichapat Suphap
Sam Smith
Cara Delevingne
Sunday Rose Kidman Urban and Nicole Kidman
Lauren Sánchez Bezos
Anna Wintour
Emma Chamberlain
Ashley Graham
The post The best looks from the 2026 Met Gala appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
