NEW YORK – The brightest stars in Hollywood, music, sports and style – led by Beyonce, Madonna and Nicole Kidman – hit the red carpet on May 4 for the Met Gala, the Manhattan charity ball that doubles as fashion’s biggest night.
The A-listers were asked to dress for the theme Fashion Is Art, which dovetails with the exhibit Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
And while not everyone followed the guidelines to the letter, the gala – traditionally held on the first Monday in May – certainly delivered as one of the world’s top red carpets, with blinding star power.
Beyonce, one of the event’s co-chairs who was making her first appearance in a decade, was one of the last to arrive. But she did not disappoint, stunning the crowd in a bejewelled skeleton gown topped with a dramatic feather coat and a headpiece.
Beyonce dazzled the crowd in a bejewelled skeleton gown.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Her rap mogul husband Jay-Z, in a tuxedo with tails, and daughter Blue Ivy Carter, in a white strapless gown and sparkling heels, joined her.
Beyonce (centre) was joined by her rap mogul husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy on the red carpet for the 2026 Met Gala.
PHOTO: EPA
Earlier, the singer’s fellow co-chairs, tennis legend Venus Williams and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, kicked off the proceedings.
Kidman wore a shimmering red long-sleeved Chanel column dress with wide feather cuffs, while Williams glistened in a black crystal Swarovski gown with an elaborate neck plate.
Singer Nicole Kidman (right) and her daughter Sunday Rose Kidman Urban at the Met Gala.
PHOTO: REUTERS
From there, the stars kept on coming. Rock royalty Madonna, Cher and Stevie Nicks joined music’s new generation of stars in Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat and Tyla.
Some of the top names in K-pop – including Blackpink’s Jennie, Rose, Lisa and Jisoo, as well as Aespa’s Karina – also walked the red carpet.
Blackpink’s Jennie (left) and Rose on the red carpet for the 2026 Met Gala.
PHOTOS: EPA
Singer-songwriter Ejae – an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winner for writing Golden from 2025 hit movie KPop Demon Hunters – stood out in a sparkling silver column gown from Swarovski, topped off with Korean hairpins called binyeo, according to Vogue.
Singer-songwriter Ejae stood out in a sparkling silver column gown from Swarovski, topped off with Korean hairpins.
PHOTO: AFP
Blackpink singer and rapper Lisa wore a white, diamond-encrusted custom Robert Wun gown that featured two extra arms protruding from her shoulders, holding a dramatic veil over her head.
In a The New York Times interview, Lisa said the limbs were modelled after her. “These are my actual arms – 3D.”
Lisa’s gown featured two extra arms that held up a dramatic veil over her head.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Celebrity couple Rihanna and A$AP Rocky made a grand entrance by arriving hours late.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky at the Met Gala on May 4.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bad Bunny, who is having a blockbuster 2026 with major Grammy wins and the Super Bowl half-time show under his belt, wore prosthetics and a white wig to explore how he would look as an old man, according to Vogue.
Rapper Bad Bunny wore prosthetics and a white wig to explore how he would look as an old man.
PHOTO: AFP
Rapper Doja Cat, one of several members of a gala “host committee”, wore a draped latex Saint Laurent gown with a demure neckline and a slit up to her waist.
Rapper Doja Cat wore a Saint Laurent gown that had a slit up to her waist.
PHOTO: EPA
Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, Stella McCartney, Anthony Vaccarello and Haider Ackermann were among the many fashion designers on hand for the evening.
Donatella Versace at the 2026 Met Gala.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Olympic gold medallists Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu – whose dress had a built-in bubble maker – led a strong contingent of athletes to the red carpet, along with NFL superstar Russell Wilson and several men’s and women’s basketball stars.
Olympian Eileen Gu’s bubble outfit comes with a built-in bubble maker.
PHOTO: AFP
And actress Blake Lively made a surprise appearance at the gala, just hours after she settled a major court case over her film It Ends With Us (2024) with her co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
Actress Blake Lively attended the Met Gala just hours after she settled a major court case.
PHOTO: AFP
Of course, the entire evening is overseen by Vogue’s global editorial director Anna Wintour – the ultimate tastemaker in US fashion who has helmed the event for 30 years.
The gala is a fund-raiser for the Met’s Costume Institute, and 2026 has raised a record US$42 million (S$53.6 million) after US$31 million in 2025, the museum’s chief executive Max Hollein told reporters early on Monday.
The 2026 exhibit juxtaposes elegant fashion looks with paintings and sculpture: think a Saint Laurent design next to Van Gogh’s Irises, or a John Galliano gown for Maison Margiela paired with an antique statue.
“When I think about the show, if there’s one word to describe it, I suppose it would be equitability or equivalency, equivalency between artworks,” the Costume Institute’s curator Andrew Bolton told AFP.
“So there’s no hierarchy between sculpture, painting, fashion, photography and no hierarchy between bodies, between the classical body or the disabled body.”
The 2026 edition has drawn some controversy after Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos were announced as the lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs of the gala, with some activists opposing the billionaire couple’s involvement.
But Wintour said the couple had “shown with this event that they genuinely care about giving back”.
The Met Gala was first organised in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society – until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.
The Costume Art exhibit, which opens on May 10 at the venerable museum in Manhattan, will seek to explore the “dressed body” in artworks across the centuries. AFP, NYTIMES
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