Met Gala set for May 4

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will hold the 2026 Met Gala on Monday, May 4, as the opening-night fundraiser for the Costume Institute’s spring show, “Costume Art.” (metmuseum.org) The exhibition will open to the public on May 10, 2026, and run through January 10, 2027, at The Met Fifth Avenue. (metmuseum.org) The Met said the gala’s dress code is “Fashion Is Art,” while the exhibition title is “Costume Art,” a distinction that separates what guests wear from what the museum is showing. (metmuseum.org) (wwd.com) The museum also named Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour as co-chairs of the benefit. (metmuseum.org) Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, said the show will examine “the centrality of the dressed body” through artistic representations of the human form in the museum’s collection. (metmuseum.org) The exhibition will include nearly 400 objects spanning about 5,000 years, according to Vogue Hong Kong’s report on the official announcement. (voguehk.com) The show will be the inaugural Costume Institute exhibition in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a major renovation the museum announced alongside the gala details. (metmuseum.org) The Met Gala is held each year on the first Monday in May and serves as the Costume Institute’s primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and operations. (metmuseum.org) That funding role is why the guest list and dress code carry so much attention: the red carpet is the public-facing part of a museum benefit tied directly to the department’s budget. (metmuseum.org) (apnews.com) With one week until May 4, the confirmed facts are narrower than the speculation: the date is set, the exhibition is “Costume Art,” and the dress code is “Fashion Is Art.” (metmuseum.org)