The Met Gala Is Next Week—Here’s Everything We Know About the Dress Code

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The first Monday in May is upon us, which means fashion’s Super Bowl is almost here. It’s the biggest night for the world’s best dressed and our personal favorite as armchair critics. Sure, it’s fun to walk the Met’s carpeted steps, but it’s also fun to do so from your couch. (We speak from experience.)

And while it’s impossible to make entirely accurate predictions for what anyone will wear—the guest list is famously kept secret until the night of—it’s still fun to think about what might happen based on the small bit of information we do have.

In November of last year, we attended a preview at The Met, where we learned that this year’s exhibition theme would be Costume Art. Months later, we learned that the dress code would be Fashion Is Art.

What Is the Met Gala 2026 Exhibition Theme?

According to the museum’s press release, “The show will examine the centrality of the dressed body, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the Museum’s vast collection to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform.” It will be on view from May 10 to January 10.

What Is the Met Gala 2026 Dress Code?

The exhibit and the dress code are never identical, but the latter is meant to complement what’s on view at the museum. Invited guests are being told to “express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.” We are predicting quite a bit of Comme des Garçons spring 1997 Lumps and Bumps collection, which was present at the preview.