Every first Monday in May, The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute hosts a charity event and fundraiser. Every year, its dissenters grow louder and louder. Deemed the biggest night in fashion, The Met Gala hosts an elite class of celebrities, public figures and socialites all draped in custom garments by legendary fashion houses – usually in accordance to the yearly theme.

The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art," explores the “centrality of the dressed body." This year's red carpet dress code was "Fashion is Art," a rather broad and imaginative theme explored to varying degrees of success.

Some of the best looks came from those who incorporated visual art into wearable fashions. Influencer Emma Chamberlain stunned in a custom Mugler dress that resembled a Van Gogh painting. Life imitated art on an Ashi Studio dress worn by Lebanese jeweler Sabine Getty. The 18th-century-inspired, hand-painted corset resembled Getty's torso and hands, down to the jewelry. Model Anok Yai's golden hair and teardrops possessed the haunting beauty of a Renaissance painting.

Others turned striking looks by bringing existing art to life. Actress Hunter Schafer's floral Prada dress was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s 1912/1913 painting "Mäda Primavesi." Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams wore a gilded Klimt-inspired creation. Madonna, aided by a small ensemble of ethereally dressed girls, brought to life “The Temptations of Saint Anthony Fragment II,” a relatively obscure work by surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. Artist Amy Sherald collaborated with Thom Browne to........

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