Metropolitan Museum of Art announces Met Gala 2026 theme, 'Costume Art'

The 2026 Met Gala theme has been announced, with a nod to history and the body.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's spring 2026 exhibition, "Costume Art," will mark the launch of the nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, named for the magazine publisher whose company would go on to transform Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

The exhibition will focus on the "centrality of the dressed body in the museum's vast collection," pairing contemporary and historic garments from the Costume Institute's collection with paintings, sculptures and other art "spanning 5,000 years" from The Met.

"It's a huge moment for the Costume Institute," Andrew Bolton, the exhibition's curator in charge, told Vogue in an announcement, published Monday, Nov. 17. "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."

Bolton said the exhibition would help bridge the divide between art and its "stepchild," fashion.

"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," he continued. "It's always inscribed with cultural values and ideas."

"Costume Art" will follow the 2025 exhibition theme "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,"  a "cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism."

When is the Met Gala?

A dress code for the night has yet to be announced. The Met Gala always takes place on the first Monday in May, which next year falls on Monday, May 4, 2026.