People confirms Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams among 2026 Met Gala co‑chairs

The Met Gala is always part celebrity spectacle, part museum fundraiser. But the 2026 version has a little more institutional weight than usual. The big update is that Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour are the co-chairs for the May 4 event, which will open the Costume Institute’s new spring show, *Costume Art*. And this year the exhibition is doing real work in the background — it is also inaugurating the Met’s new Condé Nast galleries. (metmuseum.org) ### Why is this announcement the actual news? Because co-chairs are the public face of the gala. They help define the tone, the guest list energy, and the broader cultural pitch of the night. The Met confirmed that Beyoncé, Kidman, Williams, and Wintour will lead the 2026 benefit on Monday, May 4, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos as honorary chairs. (metmuseum.org) ### What is “Costume Art,” exactly? It’s the Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, and the premise is pretty direct — fashion is being treated not as decoration orbiting art, but as art in its own right. The show pairs garments from the Costume Institute with works from across the museum to explore how clothing and the body have been represented together across time. It runs from May 10, 2026, through January 10, 2027. (metmuseum.org) ### Why does the gallery space matter? Because this is not just another annual exhibition dropped into the usual setup. *Costume Art* is the inaugural show in the Met’s nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé Nast galleries, a new exhibition space next to the Great Hall. Basically, the gala is doubling as the launch party for a major new fashion-and-art venue inside the museum. (metmuseum.org) ### What’s the dress code trying to do? The dress code is “Fashion is Art,” which is broader than a lot of recent Met Gala prompts. That matters because it gives guests more room to interpret the theme through silhouette, reference, material, or straight-up visual quotation. The museum framed the code as an invitation for guests to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form. (metmuseum.org) ### Who else is involved? The host committee is stacked across fashion, film, music, sports, and art. Zoë Kravitz and Anthony Vaccarello are attached to that side of the event, and the committee includes names like Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Misty Copeland, LISA, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, A’ja Wilson, Angela Bassett, Amy (metmuseum.org)restige up front, pop-culture reach everywhere else. (metmuseum.org) ### Is there anything new for viewers at home? Yes — E! is running live coverage again on Monday, May 4, starting at 6 p.m. ET on E! and Peacock, with additional livestream coverage online and across social platforms. The network says it will have interviews, look breakdowns, and arrivals coverage from New York as guests head up the museum steps. (eonline.com) ### So why does this one feel bigger? Because the gala is doing three jobs at once. It is the Costume Institute’s main fundraiser, the kickoff for a major exhibition, and the public unveiling of a new permanent gallery space for fashion shows at the Met. The celebrity names grab attention — obviously — but the museum angle is unusually central this time. (metmuseum.org) ### Bottom line? This year’s Met Gala looks less like a standalone red carpet and more like a statement about where the Met wants fashion to sit inside the museum — not on the side, but in the middle. (metmuseum.org)