Monday night’s Met Gala brought theatrical flair and museum-scale ambition as celebrities and designers climbed the famed staircase to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Co-chairs Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour—joined by honorary co-chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos—set the tone for an evening themed “Fashion is Art,” tied to the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Costume Art,” which opens to the public May 10 in the Met’s new Condé Nast gallery spaces. Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton framed the show as an exploration of how artistic depictions of the body intersect with fashion as an embodied art form.
The red carpet showcased dramatic, inventive interpretations of that idea. Beyoncé made a striking entrance in a sheer gown embellished with silver elements sculpted like a ribcage, pelvis and vertebrae, topped with a silver headpiece and a long gray train. Rihanna turned heads in a standout staircase moment. Singer Lisa appeared in a sheer white gown held aloft by two sculpted white arms supporting a diaphanous veil.
Performers and musicians used costume to transform identity: Bad Bunny arrived made up as an elderly man in a black suit and cane; Sam Smith chose a black sequined gown paired with a feathered headpiece; and Rauw Alejandro wore a dramatic silver ear piece and jewelry that extended across his nose. Teyana Taylor’s silver fringe suit came alive as she turned, the strands captured in motion.
Icons and designers staged theatrical tableaux. Madonna arrived in a black suit topped with a headpiece resembling a wooden ship; fabric from the piece trailed behind, carried by six models in pastel dresses. Anne Hathaway walked the carpet with Michael Kors; Hathaway wore a black gown featuring a large hand reaching toward a dove, while Kors kept it classic in a black tuxedo and sunglasses. Sabrina Carpenter channeled cinema with a gown made of film strips and a jeweled headpiece.
Nature and craft reappeared in unexpected textures: SZA wore a yellow gown crowned with a headpiece woven from orchids and shells; Janelle Monáe’s dress incorporated cords, moss and butterflies; Emma Chamberlain opted for a floor-length gown with beaded fringe on the sleeves.
Other notable arrivals included Kylie Jenner in a striking gown; Beyoncé’s fellow co-chairs—Kidman in red sequins and feathers, Sánchez Bezos in navy, and Wintour in a light-blue feathered jacket over a beaded dress—arriving together; Venus Williams in a black sequin gown with a metallic neckpiece alongside husband Andrea Preti; Jon Batiste in white with an oversized puffer jacket while his wife, Suleika Jaouad, wore a patterned red gown; performer Joshua Henry in a red suit during a staged performance; and Connor Storrie in a black-and-white polka-dot sleeveless top and black pants.
Models and personalities also offered varied takes on the theme: Ashley Graham in a beige gown with a dramatic silver fingernail, Sinéad Burke in a floor-length black gown and train, and Aariana Rose Philip in a black ruched gown who arrived using a motorized wheelchair—each look reinforcing the night’s message that fashion can be art, identity and performance all at once.