Plans for the 2027 Met Gala are underway, with fashion’s biggest night set to return on 3 May. As always, the evening will celebrate the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s spring exhibition, which was due to explore the work of John Galliano. was announced as the theme on 31 July, and would have been only the third instance of the Costume Institute celebrating the legacy of a living designer. But on 31 August, it was confirmed that the exhibition would not proceed as originally planned.
Though Galliano is undeniably among the most influential figures in fashion, news of the planned exhibition saw concerns raised about venerating a man who was arrested and subsequently fired from his creative director role at Dior in 2011, for making antisemitic remarks at a Paris bar. Anna Wintour, chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of , had previously said the exhibition would not “shy away from any of the darkness in John’s past”, adding that the show would “take in the full arc of his career and grapple with all of it”.
Now, a new theme for the exhibition – and for the Met Gala that will mark its opening – has been announced: extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday.
When is the Met Gala 2027?
The Met Gala, which provides the Costume Institute with its primary source of funding for all activities, is set to take place on 3 May. It will serve as the official opening for the spring exhibition, which is expected to be on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 9 May 2027 until 9 January 2028.
What is the Met Gala 2027’s theme?
Following the announcement that the Costume Institute’s John Galliano-themed spring 2027 exhibition would not be going ahead as planned, a new title for the show – extraORDINARY: Fashion and the Poetics of the Everyday – has now been announced, putting an end to months of speculation.
If you fancy yourself as something of an everyday dresser, you’ll be thrilled to learn that the new exhibition will focus on familiar garments and commonplace fabrics, exploring the myriad ways in which they’ve been made extraordinary in the hands of fashion’s most progressive designers. Organised by curator in charge Andrew Bolton, with assistance from Stephanie Kramer and Emily Mushaben, the show will encourage its audiences “to see the everyday anew”, adopting a dual-pronged curatorial scope. As well as the elevation of seemingly humdrum garments – jeans, hoodies, jumpers and the like – the exhibition will also study how humble – and perceivedly disposable – materials have been transformed into wearable art – paper, plastic and aluminium foil among them.
“I didn’t have a plan B,” Bolton told ’s Nicole Phelps of the exhibition’s thematic pivot. “It was really important to come up with an exhibition that wasn’t just a masterwork show or something that we could do a little bit more easily. I wanted it to be as challenging and as provocative and as beautiful as a John show would have been… It had to have some sort of contemporary resonance.”
The genesis point for this forthcoming exhibition was , the Costume Institute’s recently closed 2026 show. That exhibition “placed the dressed body at the centre of aesthetic experience,” he says, “and I suppose it led me to think more about how we experience clothing in everyday life through habit and touch and movement and sensation.”
The exhibition, which opens to the public on 9 May 2027 after the Met Gala on 3 May, will be on view until 9 January 2028. Conceptualised by the London-based scenographic design studio, 1009, an intention at the heart of the show will be to create a dialogue between the installation and the people moving through it, making their everyday wear a part of the show. If you’re planning on attending, no need to worry too much about dressing up for the occasion.
What is the dress code for the Met Gala 2027?
While official guidance has yet to be issued, it’s fair to expect that we’ll be seeing a number of (deceptively!) normy looks on show, as well as looks that transform the humblest of materials into the most fantastical of red-carpet-worthy creations.
Who are the co-chairs of the Met Gala 2027?
While the co-chairs of the 2027 Met Gala have yet to be announced, the exhibition will be sponsored by Instagram, with major funding from Moncler, and additional support from Condé Nast and Jordan Roth.
When was the Met Gala 2026?
The 2026 Met Gala took place on 4 May, co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour.
Read more: Met Gala 2026 Red Carpet
What was the 2026 Met exhibition’s theme?
, the spring 2026 exhibition at the Costume Institute, addressed “the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection”, per curator Andrew Bolton, by pairing paintings, sculptures and other objects spanning the 5,000 years of art represented in the Met, alongside historical and contemporary garments from the Costume Institute. Bolton organised the exhibition around a series of thematic body types loosely divided into three categories. These included bodies omnipresent in art, like the classical body and the nude body; other kinds of bodies that are more often overlooked, like ageing bodies and pregnant bodies; and still more that are universal, like the anatomical body.
“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” Bolton said. “It’s the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was, this epiphany: I know that we’ve often been seen as the stepchild, but, in fact, the dressed body is front and centre in every gallery you come across. Even the nude is never naked,” he continued. “It’s always inscribed with cultural values and ideas.” The exhibition also marked the inauguration of the nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M Nast Galleries, adjacent to The Met’s Great Hall.
Princess Diana wearing Dior at the 1996 Met Gala.
New York Daily News/Getty ImagesWhat was the dress code for the Met Gala 2026?
The dress code – “Fashion is Art” – allowed for a healthy degree of interpretation. While the objectivity of that statement can certainly be debated, the theme made perfect sense in the given context – after all, the exhibition places garments in dialogue with a range of artworks spanning 5,000 years of art history from the Met’s collection; on the evening of 4 May, the veritable feast of outfits – from Adwoa Aboah’s sculpted, embellished Simone Rocha column gown to Beyoncé’s resplendent crystal skeleton dress designed by Olivier Rousteing and Kim Kardashian’s buffed breastplate by pop artist Allen Jones – powerfully reinforced the theme’s claim.
Who were the co-chairs of the Met Gala 2026?
Among the co-chairs of the fête were major forces from the worlds of entertainment, sport, and, of course, fashion: namely, Beyoncé – who last walked the Met’s steps in 2016, when she attended the “Manus x Machina” gala in Givenchy Haute Couture – Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour. Meanwhile, Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chaired the 2026 Met Gala Host Committee, with additional members including 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. Read more on the co-chairs, here.
How can I re-watch the Met Gala?
The 2026 Met Gala livestream was hosted exclusively by and broadcast live across its digital platforms, as well as on YouTube and TikTok. Revisit this page, where you can rewatch the full livestream from the evening. Watch hosts Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne talk viewers through all the fun and fashion at the 2026 Met Gala, with Emma Chamberlain reprising her role as official red-carpet correspondent.
What is the Met Gala?
Organised and presided over by Anna Wintour since 1995, the Met Gala has become a much-loved annual celebration of fashion. A fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, it has traditionally been timed to mark the opening of its annual fashion exhibition. Year after year, the event raises eight-figure sums.
What happens at the Met Gala?
In short: it’s a secret. For this reason, guests must abide by the no phone (and, therefore, no social media) policy. However, the rules were famously broken by a cluster of celebrities smoking and taking selfies in the bathroom in 2017. The event usually involves a high-profile performer (from Madonna and Rihanna to Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo), and guests always explore the exhibition before sitting down together for dinner.
How many people attend the Met Gala?
The event usually hosts around 600 attendees, although a smaller number attended the 2021 Met Gala, with guests following Covid-19 rules.
Who decides the Met Gala seating plan?
With such high-profile stars in attendance, it goes without saying that plenty of thought goes into the seating plan – with event organiser Eaddy Kiernan and her team responsible for deciding who sits where. “We start with a seating document when the names come together in December,” Kiernan told . “The actual seating chart doesn’t come together until about a month before the event, when we get a sense for the layout of the room, and the flow of the evening.”
Who is invited to the Met Gala?
The 2026 guest list included everyone from Kim Kardashian and Heidi Klum to Hunter Schafer and Kylie Jenner, Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter to Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, with the latter three making their debuts at the event this year. As always, designers attended with muses, like Madonna and Jean Paul Gaultier in 2018; Lady Gaga and Brandon Maxwell in 2019; Kate Moss and Kim Jones in 2023.
What are some of the best looks of all time?
Over the years, the Met Gala has delivered viral looks that are still being discussed today. Rihanna’s dramatic Guo Pei couture cape and gown in 2015 springs to mind here. What about Lady Gaga’s 16-minute entrance while wearing transformative Brandon Maxwell in 2019? Divine. Other memorable moments? Zendaya in her Joan of Arc-inspired Versace look from 2018 and Kim Kardashian in her archival Jean Louis dress (the very same gown worn by Marilyn Monroe back in 1962, when she sang “Happy Birthday, Mr President” to JFK) in 2022. Some of the best-dressed stars in 2026 included Hailey Bieber in Saint Laurent, Teyana Taylor in Tom Ford by Haider Ackermann, and Paloma Elsesser in Francesco Risso’s Bureau of Imagination Project.