Yet again, this year’s Met Gala left lovers of design and fashion disappointed once more. On May 4, 2026 the Met was held with a theme of “Costume Art” and a dress code of “Fashion is Art.” Perhaps we’ve expected too much from celebrities and their designers, or perhaps this year’s theme was untangleable. However, the same struggle to stay on theme was evident in last year’s (whose theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”) and prior Met Galas.
This year’s Met Gala was hosted by Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and the Queen Bee herself, Beyoncé. The hosts plan the fundraiser, assemble the guest list, design the menu, and most importantly, select the theme. Every year, the hosts are the people most expected to truly follow the theme they’ve selected. However, year after year, even the hosts themselves often fail to properly showcase the very theme they’ve chosen.
Kidman’s look was mediocre at best, wearing a custom ruby-red sequined Chanel. Her waist and cuffs were adorned with feathers, and her look was set to pay homage to the Broadway show “Moulin Rouge.” While the idea was there, the connection was hard to make, and the outfit looked like a typical, sequin Kidman dress.
Williams wore a beautiful midnight black custom Swarovski gown. What seemed like a beautiful yet simple black dress was quickly elevated into something more, where her pearled neckplate became the shining piece of her look. The neckplate inspiration came from Robert Pruitt’s portrait of her.
Was this look everything I wanted and more? No, it lacked creativity and nuance, and the only part of the gown that fit the theme was almost toned down from its original. Despite these flaws, it was still beautiful and luxurious, granting the look some leeway after failing the theme.
The moment Beyoncé walked onto the carpet, my first wish of the night was fulfilled. Beyoncé and her designer, Olivier Rousteing, leaned fully into the anatomical aspect of “Fashion is Art” and created a beautiful diamond-encrusted skeletal gown, with a goddess-like headpiece, and a luxurious fur coat that had a train for days. The gown was custom-made and was covered in 300 carats of Chopard diamonds, an exquisite way to make her debut at the Met since 2016, proving that at least one of this year’s hosts was able to follow the theme and properly showcase it.
Despite some of the hosts’ outfits failing to uphold this year’s theme, some attendees did, in fact, try this year. A few notable appearances came from Doechii, Keke Palmer, SZA, Chase Infiniti, Anok Yai, and Lisa, a member of BLACKPINK. Each looked gorgeous in their outfits in their own unique ways.
Doechii and Palmer each wore their own version of red on the carpet, with Palmer’s being more lively and Doechii bringing more dark feminine energy with her deep burgundy, almost plum color. Doechii’s been seen in similar colors, previously at the Grammys, in a beautiful custom Roberto Cavalli gown featuring a gorgeous burnt orange top and a dark purple skirt. Doechii’s dress was draped to cover the necessities, but she seemed to be going with the less-is-more ideology, her lack of shoes furthering this notion.
SZA’s “garden fairy” look was designed by Emily Adams Bode Aujla, where inspiration was taken from the Viennese artist Wiener Werkstätte. SZA was covered head-to-toe with vintage fabric purchased from eBay. While the corset did look a bit cheap due to the tacky look of the fabric, the golden headpiece and MiaDonna jewelry paired well with her sunshine yellow dress. Her look almost had a reminiscence of Bollywood culture/fashion.
All the bright colors on Infiniti truly made her pop out from the crowd. She wore a custom Thom Browne gown inspired by the Venus de Milo statue. Her multi-colored gown was covered in 1.5 million hand-placed sequins and 600 different shades of silk fringe, creating a magnificent mimic of brushstrokes.
Yai wore custom Balenciaga couture designed by Pierpaolo Piccioli, but the true art of her look was her makeup. The makeup was not only inspired by, but looked like a replica of the “Mater Dolorosa” (Sorrowful Mother) statue, which was absolutely stunning.
Over the past five years, Lisa has been styled by Robert Wun, but they have never met. At this year’s Met, the pair finally met and had a chance to truly talk, and her gown said all that needed to be said. Lisa wore a beautiful angel-like ivory custom Robert Wun gown, featuring 66,960 Swarovski crystals. Her veil was held up by 3D printed arms that were derived from scans of her own arms, and they were posed in traditional Thai dance positions.
Possibly the most boring and lackluster look of the night was Amanda Seyfried in custom Prada. The bubblegum pink was a lovely color on her, but absolutely monotonous. No fun colors, no extravagant fabric, just a plain, boring bodice with an overused spring color. Her Tiffany & Co. Blue Book necklace did save the boring look in some resemblance of art. The necklace was adorned with five emerald-cut blue zircons, round cabochon emeralds, and diamonds, a beautiful addition to a tedious and overdone look. While Seyfried did look like a princess, she failed to uphold the theme.
Menswear this year was actually…good? An insane sentence, I know. However, male celebrities and their designers seem to have actually tried this year, well, some of them at least.
Cole Domingo and Law Roach looked wonderful per usual. Domingo wore a custom Valentino suit designed by Alessandro Michele inspired by a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting. Law Roach wore a custom white three-piece suit designed by Ami Paris. His suit jacket was decorated with abstract paint that was hand-painted by Gabonese artist Naïla Opiangah.
Damson Idris went two for two with his Met Gala looks. Last year, he wore a custom Tommy Hilfiger F1-inspired suit, a great promotion for his then-upcoming movie, “F1.” Meanwhile, this year he wore a custom Prada ensemble inspired yet again by another one of his upcoming movies, “Children of Blood and Bone.”
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie were both in attendance and looked great for their first Met Gala. Hudson Williams wore a custom shirtless Balenciaga suit inspired by the 1947 Cristóbal Balenciaga bolero jacket. The baby blue was a delightful color on him; however, his “Black Swan” inspired makeup look was a miss for me. The makeup looked messy and the long, winged, black eyeshadow did not complement his features. A more toned back makeup look would have been a better pick, as then his ensemble would have had a better spotlight.
His castmate, Storrie, wore a custom black Saint Laurent suit paired with a sheer polka-dot Lavallière blouse. Storrie looked fabulous, and compared, I prefer Storrie’s outfit and presentation of this year’s theme. Storrie’s more simple outfit looked more put together than Hudson William’s, and the subtle influences of Apollo, Mick Jagger, and Antinous on Storrie’s outfit was more appreciated than the almost thrown together makeup look that overpowered Hudson Williams’ ensemble.
I was glad to see more male celebrities and their designers choose something exciting and creative over the standardized, boring black suits.
Emma Chamberlain fulfilled my second wish of the night. She wore my absolute favorite look of the night, and I have personally voted her to be best dressed. Chamberlain wore a custom Mugler gown designed by Miguel Castro Freitas. It was inspired by the palettes of Van Gogh and Edvard Munch, as well as the 1997 Mugler butterfly dress. The dress was hand-painted by Anna Deller-Yee and took 40 hours to complete. Chamberlain completely embodied the dress code, and she was what I thought we would see more of: creativity, passion, and artistry. Chamberlain was the epitome of what was expected at this year’s Met.
As this year’s largest showcase of fashion ends, we have once more been let down. While there were definitely some brilliant and stunning looks this year, many guests continue to fail at following a theme year after year. I would argue that the rioters at this year’s Met followed the theme better than the celebrities.
