The Best-Dressed Stars At The 2026 Met Gala

Wearing: Custom Olivier Rousteing

Why We Loved It: Making her long-awaited return to the Met steps after a decade away – and bringing daughter Blue Ivy along for her debut – Beyoncé did not disappoint. The custom crystal-encrusted skeleton gown by her longtime collaborator Olivier Rousteing was part armour, part showpiece, complete with a matching headpiece and an ombré feathered cape that took several pairs of hands to carry. A serious moment.

Wearing: Saint Laurent

Why We Loved It: Returning to the Met steps after a four-year absence, Kravitz delivered a look that was effortless and precise in equal measure. The full-length black lace gown featured a structured corseted bodice with a scalloped sweetheart neckline and a skirt that grew increasingly sheer toward the hem. Green stone drop earrings and a sculptural ivory ring provided the only colour against the all-black look – gothic yet entirely her.

Wearing: Custom Chanel

Why We Loved It: A vision in red. As a co-chair and longstanding Chanel ambassador, Kidman made a statement in a crimson sequined gown featuring a high round neckline, long sleeves and a close-fitting skirt that trailed behind her, with feathers at the waist and fanning out from the cuffs – echoing the house's current appetite for sequins and feathers under Matthieu Blazy. She arrived arm in arm with daughter Sunday Rose, who made her Met Gala debut in Dior. A serious moment for the house and a fun night out for the mother-daughter duo.

Wearing: Dior

Why We Loved It: One of the most conceptually brilliant looks of the night. Carpenter's custom Dior tulle gown, designed by Jonathan Anderson, was an ode to the 1954 Billy Wilder film Sabrina – the slit dress wrapped entirely in rhinestone filmstrips featuring stills of Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, with a matching diamond headpiece bearing the film's title card. Old Hollywood glamour with real wit behind it.

Wearing: Loewe

Why We Loved It: Making her Met Gala debut, the Love Story star was an instant standout in a chartreuse matte satin two-piece – a twisted bandeau top and column skirt pulled from Loewe's fall 2026 runway. Whimsical, powerful and architectural all at once, the vivid yellow cut straight through a sea of darker looks on the carpet. 

Wearing: Balenciaga

Why We Loved It: Nobody does the Met Gala quite like Anok Yai. Channelling the Black Madonna in custom Balenciaga, she arrived draped in a dramatic black hood, her skin coated in golden shimmer with golden tears streaking her face – the glam was the look, and it was extraordinary.

Wearing: Gap Studio by Zac Posen

Why We Loved It: Working with Zac Posen for the first time, Jenner channelled the Winged Victory of Samothrace – the Hellenistic Greek sculpture of goddess Nike currently housed at the Louvre. Posen used Gap t-shirts, transformed into liquid jersey draped over a custom-moulded leather bodice, to mimic the movement of wet marble and flight. Fashion as sculpture, executed beautifully.

Wearing: McQueen

Why We Loved It: Edgar-Jones turned to McQueen's Seán McGirr for a custom gown in ivory silk georgette, featuring three-dimensional Lyon lace appliqué and shredded tulle embroidery – a look that explored the tension between structure and fragility that has long defined the house. Paired with high jewellery from Boucheron, it was one of the most beautifully crafted looks of the night.

Wearing: Swarovski

Why We Loved It: As co-chair, Williams took the theme more literally than almost anyone else on the carpet. Her black crystal mesh Swarovski gown was directly inspired by Robert Pruitt's 2022 portrait of her, Venus Williams, Double Portrait, commissioned by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery – with her statement necklace a recreation of the Wimbledon-plate-inspired piece she wears in the painting, honouring the Black tennis pioneers who came before her. 

Wearing: Gucci

Why We Loved It: Serving as a host committee member and making history as the first trans woman to do so, Consani delivered one of the night's best red-carpet moments. She arrived draped in a white faille cape by Gucci's Demna – inspired by Botticelli's Primavera – before removing it to reveal a sheer nude bustier and a dramatic black feathered skirt and train underneath. A two-in-one that nobody else could have pulled off.

Wearing: Thom Browne

Why We Loved It: What a way to make your Met Gala debut. The One Battle After Another star arrived in a custom trompe l'oeil Thom Browne gown inspired by the second-century BC Venus de Milo – embroidered with over 1.5 million stacked sequins and tiered silk fringes in more than 600 colours, layered to mimic brushstrokes. The body reimagined as a canvas.

Wearing: Saint Laurent

Why We Loved It: After playing it relatively safe last year, Bieber arrived at the 2026 Met Gala with something to say. The Saint Laurent look by Anthony Vaccarello featured a 24-karat gold sculptural breastplate moulded to her body, offset by a soft, sheer cobalt blue skirt and scarf – the bold Yves Klein blue understood to be a sweet nod to her one-year-old son, Jack Blues.

Wearing: Bureau of Imagination by Francesco Risso

Why We Loved It: As a host committee member, Elsesser once again proved she never misses. Her gown – the "vestige" dress from Francesco Risso's Bureau of Imagination project – was constructed from around 100 vintage dresses from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, all sourced from eBay, dismantled and collaged back together into something genuinely breathtaking. The train dragged behind her like brushstrokes. Sourcing as artistry, and one of the most conceptual looks of the night.

Wearing: Di Petsa

Why We Loved It: Di Petsa's signature wet look – developed by Greek designer Dimitra Petsa at Central Saint Martins and built around the idea of celebrating the body in all its natural state – felt like one of the most instinctively on-theme choices of the night. Harrier's draped, nude-toned gown was body-skimming and Grecian in its simplicity, and a version of the wet look even featured in the Costume Art exhibition itself. A masterclass in restraint on a night when more was very much more.

Wearing: Mugler

Why We Loved It: Returning as Vogue's red-carpet correspondent, Chamberlain arrived in a custom Mugler gown by Miguel Castro Freitas that was hand-painted by Chicago-based artist Anna Deller-Yee using traditional fine art materials – around 30 base colours, 40 hours of painting and four days of drying time. Nodding to the expressive brushwork of Van Gogh and Munch, the gown flowed into a soft mermaid skirt and had a genuinely watercolour quality.