Metropolitan Museum reveals 2026 Met Gala theme

The theme focuses on fashion as a form of art and examines how clothing interacts with the human body as a cultural symbol. The exhibition will trace how bodies have been represented across eras: from classical sculpture and anatomical studies to contemporary design, thus showing how garments shape, frame, or reinterpret these forms.

“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,” Andrew Bolton, curator in charge, told Vogue.

The curatorial layout highlights a wide range of body types, including classical, pregnant, aging, anatomical, and abstract forms, many of which are rarely reflected in fashion but consistently appear in art history. Body casts and paired artworks will illustrate how clothing can convey meaning, narrative, and identity.

Next year’s Met Gala theme will focus on how the human body always carries cultural meaning and shapes how fashion is interpreted. As a result, guests are expected to interpret ideas of the body and costume in their looks, with many designs likely to explore notions of exposure, form, and symbolism.

The 2026 exhibit will open the museum’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, with the Met Gala planned to take place on 4 May 2026, and the exhibition opening to visitors on 10 May and running until 10 January 2026.

Earlier, Qazinform reported that Chloe Malle has been appointed Head of Editorial Content at American Vogue.