The highly anticipated theme for the Met Gala 2026 has been revealed, and drumroll please, it's "Costume Art." The theme will merge bodies and clothes, as it celebrates anatomy and individuality on May 4, 2026. The exhibit curator Andrew Bolton expressed: "[The theme is a] indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear. The idea was to put the body back into discussions about art and fashion, and to embrace the body, not to take it away as a way of elevating fashion to an art form," per Vogue.
"Costume Art" will feature three categories of vastly different thematic body types, including those that are very evident in art, those that are often overlooked such as pregnant or aging bodies, as well as universal bodies which heavily focus on anatomy. Andrew also consciously chose to not feature any exhibit subtitles for the first time as a curator. He explained the reasoning behind the bold move was to level the playing field. The curator revealed: "[It's an effort] not to create a new hierarchy. It's just to disband that hierarchy and to focus on equivalency—equivalency of artworks and equivalency of bodies."
Once the Met Gala takes place on the first Monday of May, which is May 4, 2026, the Met Museum will feature the accompanying exhibition of the same name at Conde M Nast Galleries' newest 12,000 square-foot wing, which will debut on May 10. It will feature mannequins with mirrored heads so that viewers can literally picture themselves in the wardrobe and become a part of the art. Andrew explained: "Where the face is a mirror, you're looking at yourself. Part of that is to reflect on the lived experience of the bodies you're looking at, and also to reflect your own lived experience—to facilitate empathy and compassion. As you go through, [the exhibition] will challenge normative conventions and, in turn, offer more diverse displays of beauty."
The upcoming exhibition will also showcase "the centrality of the dressed body in the museum's vast collection," and will feature sculptures, paintings and more art "spanning 5,000 years," which will beautifully pair with the fashion looks. Andrew emphasized that the new vast space will offer a permanent location for fashion to flourish in New York City. He expressed: "It's a huge moment for the Costume Institute. It will be transformative for our department, but I also think it's going to be transformative to fashion more generally—the fact that an art museum like The Met is actually giving a central location to fashion."
Andrew believes that the world of fashion is consistently at play throughout the Met, as he added: "What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body. It's the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was, this epiphany: I know that we've often been seen as the stepchild, but, in fact, the dressed body is front and center in every gallery you come across. Even the nude is never naked. It's always inscribed with cultural values and ideas."
The newly announced theme follows last year's "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," with its dress code "Tailored for You," which was the direct opposite of this year's theme, with its structure, straight lines and crisp look. The upcoming theme will emphasize curves, free movement, and flexibility and it will run until January 10, 2027. Although the dress code for fashion's upcoming biggest night has not yet been announced, we know that A-listers like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian will surely bring it and continue to be on the best-dressed lists.