The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour will co-chair the 2026 Met Gala Costume Institute Benefit on May 4.
The event will celebrate the opening of Costume Art, the spring 2026 exhibition that will examine the relationship between the dressed body and art from across the Museum’s collection.
The Met Gala will run from May10, 2026 through January 10, 2027 at The Met Fifth Avenue.
Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams to co-chair Met Gala 2026 as museum opens Condé M. Nast galleries
Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz will co-chair the Gala Host Committee. Members include Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Alex Consani, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Paloma Elsesser, LISA, Chloe Malle, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, Lauren Wasser, Anna Weyant, A’ja Wilson and Yseult, the Met Museum said in a statement.
The Museum stated that members of the Host Committee and the evening’s dress code at the Met Gala will be announced at a later date.
The exhibition will be the first show in The Met’s new 12,000-square-foot Galleries adjacent to the Great Hall. The galleries have been named after Condé M. Nast, founder of Condé Nast, in recognition of a lead gift from the company.
Thom Browne, Michael Kors and Lance Le Pere provided contributions toward the renovation. Support also came from Met Trustee Aerin Lauder, Tory Burch LLC, Nancy C. and Richard R. Rogers, and Met Trustee Amy Griffin and John Griffin.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos have made the exhibition and Benefit possible, with support from Saint Laurent and Condé Nast. Saint Laurent has funded the catalogue.
Costume Art exhibition to explore dressed body through art history
Costume Art will focus on Western art from prehistory to the present, organised into a series of thematic body types.
The exhibition will present categories including the Naked Body, the Classical Body, the Pregnant Body, the Aging Body, the Anatomical Body and the Mortal Body.
The show will juxtapose objects from across the Museum’s collection with garments from The Costume Institute to highlight the relationship between clothing and the body.
“Costume Art will present a dynamic and scholarly conversation between garments from The Costume Institute and an array of artworks from across The Met’s vast collection, elevating universal and timeless themes while bringing forward new ideas and ways of seeing,” Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer said.
“This immensely creative and collaborative exhibition will demonstrate the Museum’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to presenting Costume Institute exhibitions and will highlight The Met’s unique ability to position fashion within the context of more than 5,000 years of art represented in its collection,” he added.
Dressed body takes centre stage
“For The Costume Institute’s inaugural exhibition in the Condé M. Nast Galleries, I wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the Museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as an embodied artform,” Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute added.
“Rather than prioritising fashion’s visuality, which often comes at the expense of the corporeal, Costume Art privileges its materiality and the indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear,” he added.
“The opening of the new Galleries will mark a pivotal moment for the department, one that acknowledges the critical role that fashion plays not only within art history but also within contemporary culture. I am grateful to Max for his support and to the generous donors to the Galleries for their belief in fashion’s transformative possibilities,” he further explained.
The exhibition will present pairings between fashions and artworks that demonstrate connections ranging from the formal to the conceptual, the aesthetic to the political, the individual to the universal, the illustrative to the symbolic, and the playful to the profound.
Objects will be displayed on pedestals and platforms used by art museums. The structures will represent equivalency between types of artworks and types of bodies, in contrast to their use to convey value, status and significance.
Gallery design and future plans
Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich of Peterson Rich Office (PRO), a Brooklyn-based architecture firm, have designed the exhibition and the Galleries. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects LLP will serve as the executive architect.
The Condé M. Nast Galleries will display The Costume Institute’s annual spring exhibition and, at times, shows from the Museum’s other curatorial departments that explore the intersection of fashion and art.
The opening of the Galleries represents the first of two initiatives related to the Great Hall that will transform visitors’ experience at the Museum. The second initiative will encompass the activation of The Met’s entrance at 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue, and the transformation of The Met’s dining and retail spaces and The Met Store.
The Museum stated that details related to the dining and retail activations will be released at a later date.
