The Met Gala never fails to deliver fashion moments that stop the internet in its tracks — and this year’s “Costume Art” theme gave Hollywood’s most daring dressers full permission to go completely, gloriously unhinged. Scroll down and see for yourself!
The steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art became a living gallery on Monday night as the fashion world’s most anticipated evening unfolded under the banner of Costume Art — a theme tailor-made for maximalism, provocation, and the kind of creativity that makes civilians audibly gasp at their phone screens.
From sculptural couture to full-body transformations, the 2026 Met Gala delivered on every front.
Cardi B arrived in a form-fitting black lace catsuit adorned with floral embroidery, its most jaw-dropping features being the enormous puffed, quilted forms encasing her arms and pooling dramatically at her feet like a blooming rose.
The silhouette was equal parts surrealist sculpture and haute couture fever dream. The internet, naturally, had opinions. “Scrunchies?” one viewer puzzled. Another went straight for the visceral, writing, “Tumors and intestines.”
Janelle Monáe wore what can only be described as a wearable ecosystem — a fitted gown covered in cascading wires, moss, circuit-board accents, and delicate butterfly details, marrying the natural and the synthetic in genuinely arresting fashion. Viewers were less poetic.
“It looks like salad,” one commenter quipped, while another remarked, “It looks like my kitchen junk drawer.”
Madonna arrived with full theatrical gravity, commanding the carpet in an all-black ensemble complete with waist-length dark curls, leather gloves, and a towering hat crowned with a miniature ship. Behind her, a coterie of gown-clad models held aloft the sweeping grey veil that fanned out like wings on either side. It was cinematic. It was imposing. It divided the room.
“Halloween costume,” one observer flatly declared, while another leaned into the supernatural, gasping, “She looks like dev!l.. such a strange energy at this ball.”
Isha Ambani brought an entirely different energy — regal, grounded, and deeply considered. She wore a champagne and gold embroidered saree with an elaborate draped dupatta forming a halo around her head, paired with extraordinary emerald and diamond jewellery.
She carried a garland of flowers and, charmingly, what appeared to be a small mango. That accessory did not go unnoticed. “That dress is enough to feed an entire village,” one commenter remarked pointedly, while another cackled, “She brought her own snack 😂😂😂😂.”
Heidi Klum committed fully — as she always does — this time emerging as a living classical marble statue. Every inch of her, face included, was painted ivory-white, her draped fabric robes sculpted to mimic carved stone, and her arms outstretched as though freshly descended from a plinth.
“Heidi Klum looks like a sourdough starter ready to go,” one viewer wheezed. “Is she supposed to be a statue or a ghost? Im scared! 🫣 [sic],” another confessed.
Luke Evans kept it comparatively contained in a head-to-toe oxblood leather look — biker jacket, flared trousers, studded gloves, and a matching cap. The execution was sharp and unapologetic.
“Someone is getting spanked later,” one follower cheekily offered.
Katy Perry walked in white — a sculptural strapless ballgown — but it was her accessories that launched a thousand comments: long white opera gloves and a silver domed visor encased in white mesh netting.
“Looks like someone has taken fencing class 🤺” one viewer chortled. “Is she an astronaut or a fencer? I’m confused,” another wondered.
Some eagle-eyed fans spotted something more unsettling. “One of the gloves has 6 fingers 👀,” one viewer pointed out, wide-eyed. “What astronaut😂😂😂,” another howled. “Does she know she’s no longer in space?” a third teased.
Naomi Osaka floated onto the carpet in a sweeping white structured gown scattered with red leaf appliqués, accessorised with crimson gloves and talon-like red nails, topped with an architectural wide-brim white hat.
The vision was striking and layered. “It’s giving Mary Poppins, Cruella DeVille, and Alice in Wonderland in all the best ways ❤️,” one admirer swooned.
Lena Dunham made a statement in head-to-toe red — a heavily sequinned gown completely engulfed in sweeping crimson feathers from shoulder to train.
“Was the goal to look like the dress is swallowing her? If so, mission accomplished,” one viewer remarked dryly. “How can I unsee that?” another lamented.
Sam Smith swept the carpet in a heavily beaded black robe with voluminous fur-trimmed sleeves and a dramatic train, topped with a towering headband of arching black plumes.
“Lets see if he lays an egg [sic]!” one commenter shrieked. “What in the goose 😰,” another breathed.
Doechii arrived barefoot and fully veiled in an enormous purple cocoon of fabric — completely obscuring herself outside the venue before revealing an elaborate purple headwrap, backless draped top, and flowing skirt beneath. The theatrics were immaculate.
“After a fun night out I roll out of bed just like this,” one fan deadpanned. “So she stole a tablecloth from the hotel? So Amazing!” another gasped, while a third mourned, “My bedsheet’s gone missing…”
The overarching public verdict? “Each outfit leaves me more confused than the previous one 🥴,” one viewer summarised, while another cut straight to it, “Is it Halloween already?”
It wasn’t. It was better. See for yourself below.
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Heidi Klum stands arms outstretched on the carpet, her entire body — face, hands, and floor-length draped robes — painted ivory-white to replicate the texture and weight of classical marble, topped with a sculpted laurel wreath.
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Lisa walks the carpet in a crystal-encrusted nude illusion fitted gown, its surface scattered with thousands of tiny stones, the sweeping sparkle-dotted tulle veil arching overhead and held aloft by ivory hands, while her own arms pose freely at her sides.
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Doechii, fully concealed from head to toe in a sweeping deep purple chiffon veil, is photographed from the side on the red pre-carpet outside the venue as photographers jostle to capture the mystery.
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Doechii revealed on the Met carpet in a deep crimson draped halter with a towering sculptural headwrap, henna-tattooed bare feet adorned with silver anklets, stacked bracelets, red talon nails, and a tasselled fabric train held aloft in one hand.
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SZA stuns in a voluminous golden yellow tiered ballgown with floral embroidery, sheer organza panels with painted blooms, a jewelled corset bodice, stacked cocktail rings and bracelets, and a towering headdress of yellow orchids, wire spirals, and shell embellishments cascading over her face.
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Simone Ashley in a body-skimming silver chain-mail dress with cascading multi-strand chains draping from shoulder to hem, finished with strappy silver stilettos and diamond drop earrings.
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Jordan Roth in a sweeping dove-grey velvet turtleneck gown with matching long gloves, accompanied by a faceless full-body grey mannequin figure that embraces them from behind with outstretched arms.
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Rachel Sennott in a deep-V black gown with a high slit revealing hot pink tights, blowing a bubblegum bubble while carrying a large blue circular disc prop, wearing mismatched green and pink heeled mules, a sleek black oval hat, and standing on a sparkling purple sequinned train.
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Olivia Wilde is photographed side-on in a black off-shoulder corseted bodice transitioning into a voluminous white tulle ballgown skirt, with a structured tan leather cage crinoline visibly sculpting the skirt’s silhouette from beneath.
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A close front-facing shot of Janelle Monáe’s gown revealing its intricate construction: visible circuit boards, USB cables, embedded succulents, a chrome disc centrepiece, and dragonfly and butterfly embellishments nestled amongst moss-covered wiring at the hem.
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Odessa A’zion in a black corseted micro-skirt with sheer sleeves featuring red and blue sequinned floral appliqués, black thigh-high leather boots, sheer tights, and a dramatic royal blue and black satin train trailing behind her.
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Teyana Taylor head-to-toe in a floor-length silver fringe gown, the dense metallic strands cascading over her face as a veil and continuing down oversized sleeves before pooling into a trailing hem.
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Cardi B beaming in a black lace floral catsuit over a multicoloured pink, orange and lavender base, with enormous inflated lace-covered balloon forms erupting from both shoulders and coiling into a massive sculptural heap at her feet.
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Madonna centred on the carpet flanked by six models in pastel slip dresses — pink, blue, coral and yellow — holding a sweeping grey tulle veil aloft on either side, forming a cathedral-like wingspan across the full width of the frame.
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Sarah Paulson in an enormous deconstructed grey tulle ballgown with a ruffled off-shoulder bodice, white opera gloves and a diamond choker, with a US dollar bill worn as a blindfold across her eyes.
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Katy Perry front-facing in a structured white strapless satin ballgown with a gathered fabric detail at the waist, white opera gloves, a scorched and frayed hem on the train, and a polished chrome dome visor encased in white mesh netting that fully obscures her face.
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Dree Hemingway in a silver chainmail column gown with long fringe sleeves, a fluffy white feather hem, a dangling crystal bracelet, and an extraordinary oversized gold-tipped butterfly wing collar fanning out around her face like an Elizabethan ruff.
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Gwendoline Christie in a red striped off-shoulder gown with a sweeping red feather hem, holding a silver hand-mirror mask painted with red lips up to her face, topped with an explosion of multicoloured ostrich feathers in pink, purple, green and blue.
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A wider shot of Naomi Osaka showing the full sweep of the white gown’s cathedral train, her red-gloved hands raised to the brim of the oversized white hat, with red leaf appliqués scattered across the voluminous structured sleeves and bodice.
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Lena Dunham in a heavily sequinned red gown completely bordered in thick red ostrich feathers from neckline to trailing hem, with studded red T-strap heels and a visible arm tattoo.
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A wider shot of Sam Smith arms outstretched, showcasing the full dramatic wingspan of the black beaded robe, its fur-trimmed collar, trailing sequinned train, sheer black gloves, beaded tassel cuffs, and a single soaring black plume headpiece against the open-air backdrop.
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Claire Foy in a black sweetheart-neckline satin gown with a long train, a draped off-shoulder jacket with beaded trim, a delicate black neck choker, small black net fascinator, red lips and dark nails.
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Lena Mahfouf in a pale blue draped wrap skirt with a barely-there waist string, topped with a sculptural bronze cast of two hands as a breastplate, with dramatic winged eyeliner and loose waves.
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A full-length shot of Luke Evans in his complete oxblood leather look: studded peaked cap, aviator sunglasses, silver-studded collar and cuffs, a double-studded belt, matching leather gloves, flared trousers, and pointed black boots.
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Irina Shayk in a sleek black fishtail skirt with a long train and bare midriff, a jewelled crystal and gold chain bralet, layered charm necklaces, a chunky silver and gold choker, and gold cuff bracelets on each arm.
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Beyoncé commanding the full width of the carpet in a crystal-encrusted nude illusion gown with a diamond ribcage skeletal motif, enveloped in a sweeping floor-length grey and blush feather cape, crowned with a silver spiked halo headpiece, set against the venue’s cascading white wisteria ceiling.
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Isha Ambani in a silver and gold embroidered saree with intricate border detailing, a jewelled emerald and diamond bralet bodice, layered diamond and emerald necklaces, a voluminous crinkled gold organza dupatta forming a halo around her head, and a small mango held in a jasmine garland in her hand.
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Ciara in a sheer crystal and gold embellished column gown with a structured multi-ring gold shoulder collar, thick gold cuff bracelets, cat-eye sunglasses, drop earrings, and a towering black gilded spiked crown headdress.
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Kim Kardashian in a copper and orange glossy latex high-neck bodysuit with sculpted inflated panels, layered over a bronze and neon orange long skirt with a deep front split, nude stilettos, a thin black choker, and tousled blonde waves.
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Anok Yai in an all-black ruched strapless ballgown with a voluminous trumpet skirt and sweeping train, a dramatic oversized puffed hood framing her face, long black leather gloves, and a delicate diamond necklace.
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Ananya Birla in a black structured blazer with powder blue lapels and cuffs over a voluminous black pleated iridescent ballgown skirt with a swirling silver marbled pattern, silver pointed nail tips, a diamond choker, and a menacing chrome skull mask with protruding spikes covering her entire face.
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Stevie Nicks caught mid-twirl on the carpet, her sweeping navy taffeta ballgown billowing dramatically outward, paired with a deep blue velvet jacket, black feather-trimmed hem, and a black top hat adorned with a single dark feather.