Met Gala dress code set

The 2026 Met Gala will ask guests to dress for “Fashion Is Art” when the fundraiser returns to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4. (metmuseum.org) The dress code was announced by the Met on February 23, alongside new details for “Costume Art,” the Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition. The museum said the show will open May 10 and pair nearly 400 garments and artworks. (metmuseum.org) The exhibition will inaugurate the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space at the museum. The Met said “Costume Art” will explore the dressed body by placing fashion beside objects from other parts of its collection. (metmuseum.org) That framing gives the red carpet a wide brief. Vogue said the prompt invites guests to express “their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form,” which leaves room for both direct art references and more abstract couture. (vogue.sg) That looseness fits how the event usually works. Met Gala dress codes often serve as starting points rather than strict rules, and coverage of the 2026 prompt has already pointed to interpretations ranging from historic painting references to sculptural silhouettes and minimalist looks. (nytimes.com) The gala is more than a celebrity red carpet. The Met said the Costume Institute Benefit is the department’s main annual source of funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations, and capital improvements. (metmuseum.org) The Costume Institute itself began as the Museum of Costume Art in 1937 before merging with the Met in 1946, according to the museum. That history helps explain why the 2026 exhibition is leaning so directly into the argument that clothing belongs in an art museum. (metmuseum.org) The next marker is May 4, the first Monday in May, when the museum closes Fifth Avenue for fashion’s biggest fundraiser and the red carpet tests how far “Fashion Is Art” can stretch. (metmuseum.org, metmuseum.org)