When will Met Gala 2026 take place? Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and more to co-chair the event

The fashion world is already looking forward to next spring, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host the 2026 Met Gala, one of the most eagerly awaited cultural nights of the year.

Kicking off on May 4, 2026, the annual fundraising fete will bring together luminaries from entertainment, art, fashion, and athletics to celebrate the launch of the Costume Institute’s new show.

The celebrity co-chairs of the 2026 event have been revealed and Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams will be joined by Met Gala organizer Anna Wintour, who has co-chaired every gala since 1995. Collectively, they will help lead the theme, guest list and general vision of the night.

Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams will co-chair the 2026 Met Gala alongside Anna Wintour. pic.twitter.com/PAwC2n7qww

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Corresponding to the Costume Institute’s exhibition of the same name, “Costume Art” was chosen as the 2026 gala theme.

Organized by Andrew Bolton, the exhibition will investigate the connection between the body and fashion through an expansive representation that includes 5,000 years of objects.

Bolton has described the theme as an ode to the “dressed body,” featuring garments and works of art that put fashion front and center in aesthetic and cultural expression. The title does not include a subtitle this year, as it has in the past, something that Bolton told was deliberate, to open up interpretation and to try and avoid imposing a strict hierarchy.

Return of several stars to the Met Gala

The 2026 gala will be Beyoncé’s long-awaited return to the event, which she hadn’t attended in a decade. The singer’s last attendance was in 2016, for the theme “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.”

Beyoncé, who is known for her daring and sometimes trendsetting fashion statements, has attended the Met Gala seven times before and served as an honorary chair once before, in 2013. Her comeback is anticipated to be one of the highlights of the night.

Nicole Kidman, a frequent fixture on the Met steps, is co-chairing for a third time. The Oscar-winning actress has long been considered a fashion icon, celebrated for her dramatic silhouettes and many designer partnerships.

Kidman arrived at the 2025 Met Gala in a sculptural black Balenciaga dress, keeping her winning streak of memorable red-carpet hits alive.

Venus Williams is the co-chair of the gala for the first time in 2026. This year, Venus Williams is the inaugural co-chair of the 2026 gala. The tennis great has attended the event multiple times. Her 2025 gala look, a textured Lacoste “tennis couture” number, was praised for its originality and personal touch, nodding to aspects of her life early on.

Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz are two more co-chairs leading the gala’s host committee, with notable faces from a variety of creative backgrounds on its ranks: Doja Cat, Sabrina Carpenter, Gwendoline Christie, Sam Smith, Misty Copeland and LISA among them.

The 2026 edition will also mark the debut of the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a designated fashion-focused area at The Met.