Met Gala unveils 'Fashion Is Art' dress code tied to museum exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has set “Fashion Is Art” as the dress code for the 2026 Met Gala on Monday, May 4. (metmuseum.org) The dress code is tied to the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Costume Art,” which opens to the public on May 10, 2026, at The Met Fifth Avenue. (metmuseum.org 1) (metmuseum.org 2) The museum said the show will pair garments from the Costume Institute with artworks from across The Met’s collections to examine “the dressed body” from prehistory to the present. (metmuseum.org) The exhibition will be the first staged in the Met’s new Condé Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space beside the Great Hall. (metmuseum.org 1) (metmuseum.org 2) That museum framing helps explain the gala’s unusually broad dress code. Instead of a narrow reference point, guests are being asked to treat clothing as something that can function like painting, sculpture, or performance. (metmuseum.org) (nytimes.com) Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, said the exhibition traces how fashion connects galleries across the museum and centers the relationship between clothes and the body. (eonline.com) (metmuseum.org) The Met said Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour will co-chair the May 4 benefit. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are listed as honorary chairs. (metmuseum.org) The gala is not just a red carpet event. The Costume Institute says the annual benefit is its primary source of funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and operations. (metmuseum.org) The result is a gala built around a museum argument as much as a celebrity theme: that fashion belongs in the same conversation as the rest of The Met’s art. (metmuseum.org)