When the Met Gala introduced its gown code for 2026, trend consultants collectively furrowed their brows. “Fashion is Art” is likely to be the Costume Institute’s most on-the-nose theme yet. Does it imply that Lady Gaga will arrive on the crimson carpet wearing a giant picture frame? Or will stylists interpret the road within the press launch that alludes to the “centrality of the dressed body” and provides us dozens of bare attire?
The gown code for this yr’s occasion – going down May 4 – is impressed by “Costume Art,” the name of the Costume Institute’s Spring exhibition that explores depictions of the dressed physique via a collection of thematic physique varieties: “the naked body,” “classic body,” “pregnant body” and “ageing body.” Guests are inspired to consider their our bodies as a clean canvas.
“There are so many ways you can look at it,” says celeb stylist Mickey Freeman, who styled Tony Award-winning producer Cody Renard Richard for final yr’s Met Gala. “There’s actual literal art and figurative art. But that’s the beauty of the Met Gala: it’s your interpretation.”
Below, we spoke to celeb stylists about their sartorial predictions for this yr’s greatest evening in trend….
Yes, there shall be a lot of bare attire
Since the “Costume Art” theme celebrates how the human physique is a dwelling canvas for trend — we will count on to see some risqué appears to be like. Celebrity stylist KJ Moody, who shall be dressing VIPs for this yr’s occasion, predicts that we’re going to see a number of sheer, lace attire on the crimson carpet. The translucent look that accentuates components of the feminine kind, referred to as “naked dressing,” has been a well-liked crimson carpet look lately, as seen on actor Julia Fox, who wore a clear Dilara Findikoglu gown to the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscars celebration and musician Chappell Roan, who wore a burgundy Mugler dress suspended from her nipples at this yr’s Grammys.
Moody believes that the inspiration behind these appears to be like will rejoice iconic moments from trend historical past.
“One of my favorite Met Gala looks is when Beyoncé wore a sheer black look by Givenchy in 2012. It had a blue and black feather train,” he says. “So I think we’ll see homages to moments like that.”
Unconventional silhouettes
Not all crimson carpet robes must be form-fitting. Moody predicts that celebrities could go in the wrong way and play with sculptural, outsized and eccentric silhouettes.
He believes Met Gala visitors can discover inspiration within the designs of John Galliano, who celebrated the outsized silhouette in his 2003 couture present for Christian Dior. The occasion featured Japanese kimonos and conventional Chinese apparel remodeled into among the most voluminous silhouettes ever seen, with fashions submerged in 18th-century hoopskirts, tent-like structural attire and outsized ruffled coats with enlarged shoulder pads.
Paintings remodeled into trend
People can also interpret this yr’s theme very actually. Moody says visitors may honor iconic items of artwork — like a gown printed with the Mona Lisa. Or, say, a sequined jacket depicting “The Swing,” a classical 18th-century portray by French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, which portrays a girl in a big pink gown on a swing.
“We will see a lot of sculptures or interpretations of art on the wall,” he says. “Or work from designers’ favorite visual artists.”
Rare, archival references
The finest outfits may very well be those we by no means thought we’d see once more, in keeping with Freeman. The stylist says that runway appears to be like which have been buried deep within the trend archives for many years shall be unearthed for the event.
“We can expect certain outfits to make their debut at the Met Gala, like the designs of Thierry Mugler,” he says, referencing the work of the late French designer through the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, which performed with theatrical silhouettes and architectural constructions. The House of Mugler, a French trend home based by the designer, has an in depth assortment of his signature decades-old appears to be like which can be excellent for this theme.
“Mugler’s rare archival pieces never see the light of day,” says Freeman. “I think they could finally be getting their moment.”
Anatomical trend
If you’re squeamish, you could need to avert your eyes whereas watching this yr’s crimson carpet. Freeman predicts that celebrities may interpret the theme by celebrating what’s inside their our bodies via clothes that mimic organs and bones, dubbed anatomical trend.
He references Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1938 Skeleton Dress — that includes three-dimensional ribs, vertebrae and limb bones — and Alexander McQueen’s 2023 “Anatomy” assortment, which featured designs that resembled dissected our bodies. “Let’s not forget the human body is beautiful, and yes, it actually is a work of art,” says Freeman.
A… ‘cement suit’
Met Gala visitors may go one step additional and switch themselves into precise museum objects. Freeman thinks we may see designers use clay merchandise to kind a “cement suit” that mimics the looks of a Renaissance sculpture. He gushes over South African singer Tyla’s skin-tight Balmain strapless robe, coated in actual sand, that she wore on the 2024 Met Gala for the theme, “The Garden of Time.”
“I would really love to see some kind of cement,” he provides. “Or just unconventional materials used to make a garment.”
