The 2026 Met Gala took place yesterday at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the theme was “Fashion Is Art.” This year’s exhibition, Costume Art, examines the relationship between fashion, art, and the human body. This theme gave the red carpet an unusually body-conscious charge. The event’s co-chairs were Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour.
On the Met steps, celebrities arrived in gowns, tuxedos, and conceptual looks ranging from ravishing to anatomical. But the strongest looks of the night focused on the body and its relation to the art forms rather than resting on wearing a “pretty” dress.
Across the carpet, three signals kept appearing: black garments, sheer fabrics, and the unmistakable presence of designer Robert Wun.
Signal 1: Robert Wun is having a moment!
What makes Robert Wun so compelling right now is his ability to create custom, narrative-driven work that often references nature, futurism, surrealism, and human anatomy. The independent, London-based designer launched his bespoke brand in 2014 and presented his first runway show in 2023.
For the 2026 Met Gala, Wun dressed several major attendees, including Lisa of BLACKPINK and Naomi Osaka, while Beyoncé reportedly changed into a Robert Wun look inside the gala. Lisa’s custom Wun look alone featured 66,960 Swarovski crystals and nearly 3,000 hours of work, while Osaka’s elaborate ensemble was also noted as a major Robert Wun Couture moment.
As the looks rolled in, his signatures became easy to spot: veils, feathered drama, body illusion, anatomical references, sculptural hands, and a sense of beauty pulled toward the uncanny.
If “Fashion Is Art” aimed to inspire celebrities to think beyond glamour, his work offered one of the night’s clearest answers — fashion as surrealism, performance, and bodily transformation.
Signal 2: Black Is…Back?
Black is always a red-carpet staple, but at this year’s Met Gala, the volume of black looks felt impossible to ignore. From Charli XCX and Anok Yai to Zoë Kravitz, Bad Bunny, Cher, Madonna, Sam Smith, Dwyane Wade, and others, black became one of the evening’s dominant hues.
Part of this comes from black’s reliability. It can look severe, polished, expensive, romantic, gothic, or restrained, depending on the silhouette. But this year, black also served the theme.
Against a red carpet built around the relationship between fashion, art, and the body, black made silhouettes sharper. It made the body read like sculpture, encouraging admiration for daring styling.
Black was a safe choice this year, but at its best, it turned the wearer into a figure, the garment into a frame, and the carpet into something closer to a gallery wall.
Signal 3: Everything’s sheer
On a red carpet as fashion-heavy as the Met Gala, sheer dressing is expected. But this year, the sheer number of transparent, skin-revealing, and body-conscious looks stood out.
Beyoncé, Gigi Hadid, Doechii, Charli XCX, Lisa, Cardi B, Alex Consani, Ayesha Curry, Coco Jones, and others all leaned into exposure in different ways. Some used sheer fabric for softness. Others used it for shock, sex appeal, or anatomical emphasis.
What made the trend feel more relevant this year was the theme itself. For a gala concerned with fashion’s relationship to the human body, transparency had a built-in purpose.
At its strongest, sheer dressing moved beyond the overfamiliar naked-dress conversation. The look made skin, structure, silhouette, and styling work together, turning the body into a surface, a reference, and sometimes the entire argument.
Not every sheer look landed. Some felt more like standard red-carpet seduction than a true interpretation of the theme. But the best examples understood the assignment — if fashion is art, the body cannot be an afterthought.
The Looks That Understood the Assignment
Beyoncé
Best because she embodies a skeleton in a character-like way that captivated the world. Also, her choosing to work with Olivier Rousteing, formerly of Balmain, was a smart, strategic choice that paid off.
Doechii
Best because Doechii didn’t take the theme “too” seriously, but still delivered a breathtaking look centered on Motherland flavor.
Janelle Monae
Best because they understood the theme of connecting the body to art in its truest form. This look also made me wonder: is it a nod to how tech is ruining nature, or to how we’re one with nature? Either way, it lands perfectly.
Emma Chamberlain
Best if you want an artful exploration of the theme. Emma physically embodied the painter’s canvas in a multicolored look with dripping fringe. Chic.
Yseult
Best because Yseult was not afraid to take a risk, and it paid off. The gold, glittering sculptural body cast was stellar.
Teyana Taylor
Best Honorable Mention because Teyana knows how to deliver a fashion moment. She shaked and shimmied down the red carpet to showcase the movement of her piece, which speaks to her ability to showcase a garment’s full benefits.
Weakest Dressed: When Pretty Wasn’t Enough
Doja Cat
Falls flat because it’s skin-toned and doesn’t fit that great. It feels disconnected from the theme.
Keke Palmer
Falls flat due to its disconnection from the theme and lack of direction.
Kim Kardashian
Falls flat because, honestly, it’s something we’ve seen from Kim and her brand of fashion before.
Serena Williams
Falls flat because it looks expensive but doesn’t nail the concept. Also, the dress’s cut is a bit confusing.
Olivia Wilde
While wanting to include a bustle makes sense, it completely misses the mark on this gown. It makes the garment feel and look deformed.
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