The Met Gala 2026: Straight Out of A Painting

On the fashion’s most elaborate night, designers and their guests alluded to both artworks and the artists that made them. For any art history major, the event was a fun game of spot-the-reference. Given our focus in the arts here at Creativo, it was exciting to decipher guests’ interpretations. From Sargent’s Madame X to The Execution of Jean Grey, several pieces lended inspiration to attendees. Of course, there were the Monet lily pad accessories and drip painting style jackets that screamed Jackson Pollock, yet many of the best looks stood out because they reinterpreted classical references with innovative sillouttes and fabrics.

The homages to Gustav Klimt stood out as prime examples. In a romantic and fresh take from Prada and stylist Dara, Hunter Shaefer embodied Klimt’s portrait Mäda Primavesi, while Gracie Abrams’s intricate mosaic gown from Chanel by Matthieu Blazy was very much a modern version of “The Woman in Gold” Adele Block Bauer. The references for both were immediate, but neither felt like a costume. Each was elegant, playful, and artisanal. From Nicole Kidman to Lily Rose Depp, Blazy’s Chanel ladies (and ASAP Rocky) were also stunning players on the carpet, but Abrams’ outfit aligned the most with the theme of the Chanel crew.

In the sculpture category, both Kendall Jenner and Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo dually played canvas to look inspired by the Louvre's Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Hellenistic masterpiece depicting the goddess Nike. In Gap by Zac Posen, a statuesque Kendall Jenner wore a modernist interpretation with surprise wings (though we wish she brought them on the carpet), while Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo played up the avant-garde in a swan white tromphe-d’oeil custom Jean Paul Gautier number. Working with Kendall’s silhouette, Posen re-imagined the simple Gap T-shirt into a dress that, despite being deceivingly simple, was one of the serious show-stoppers of the night.

While architectural simplicity made Jenner’s look stand out, others did not shy away from the drama. For instance, Sam Smith channeled art deco excess in a glamorous grand noir coat by designer and partner Christian Cowen. The dramatic multi-pound creation was very reminiscent of John Galliano’s work for Dior in his iconic Palais Garnier show. Another look that felt quite Jazz Age was Tyla’s sultry blue and silver Valentino number. Like the animal it was inspired by, the dress’ flair certainly made Tyla peacock on the carpet. María Zardoya of The Marías looked breathtaking in silent-cinema style makeup and a haunting blossom pink dress (doll included).

In her first appearance in many years, co-chair Beyoncé glowed in a glittering skeleton Olivier Rousteing gown and headpiece. With her family beside her, it was an especially poignant night for the music icon. Perhaps the most memorable carpet walk was Madonna’s. Dressed in distressed Saint Laurent and a ghost-ship hat, Madonna and seven handmaidens turned heads on the carpet in a striking performance-art tableau. Together, they brought mysticism and surrealism to the Met by re-imagining the painting The Temptation of St. Anthony 1945, Fragment II by artist Leonora Carrington.

From paint to film stock, the carpet was filled with many direct motifs to art’s many mediums. Setting the tone early on in the night, Vogue Correspondent Emma Chamberlain’s colorful hand-painted custom Mugler gown was a standout example. Designed by Mugler’s creative director Miguel Castro Freitas, the feather-train gown drew attention for its vibrant palette-like colors and painted stroke textures. In a similar vein, Paloma Elsesser wore an eye-catching watercolor-esque pastel gown by Francesco Risso for his Bureau of Imagination Project.

Three über unique interpretations of artistic mediums came from Sabrina Carpenter in Jonathan Anderson for Dior, Eileen Gu in in Iris Van Herpen x A.A Murakami, and Sza in Bode. Carpenter wore a gown crafted from hand-sewn black and white film. The golden touch? The film stock rolls were of the classic Audrey Hepburn film, yes, Sabrina. Gu’s 15,000 glass bubble dress seemed to glide on her body, whilst also emitting actual dreamy bubbles into the air. Sza’s yellow look was a whimsical wonder including a live orchid headpiece and etsy-sourced vintage fabrics.

Artistic movements shaped another re-coccuring theme. By including floating (and moving!) silver hands on Nichapat Suphap’s gown and extended mannequin appendages on a veiled Lisa from Blackpink, Robert Wun’s designs were clearly surrealist. Given its incredible history with the surrealist movement, I wish that we had seen more whimsical Scaparelli in this section. Too many breastplates. We needed more out-of-the-box Scaparelli. In a highlight for menswear, Mile Chamley-Watson went full Cubism. His KidSuper ensemble was designed to reflect the abstract worlds of George Braque and Pablo Picasso.

No one dressed up as Picasso, but it wouldn’t have been a surprise because some guests directly cosplayed as the high-fashion versions of artists. Dressed in Prada, Troye Sivan played legendary photographer Robert Mapplethope for the night in the runway version of a downtown NYC outfit straight out of the1980s. Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne collaborated with Patrick Schwarzenegger to deliver a Salvador-Dali inspired look made up of corseted silk pants, a high-collar Oxford shirt, a leather tie, and a cropped bolero-tailored long coat made of wool. Other great menswear looks included Jeremy Pope in a pearly archival Vivienne Westwood bodysuit, Hudson Williams in a blue matador set, Karan Johar’s exquisite cape number, and Loïk Gomez, whose demeanor and attire felt akin to that of a figure in a sketch by Egon Von Schiele. Honorable mention to Luke Evans as well, who channeled a cheeky figure in a Palomo Spain leather number that could only be the one-and-only Tom of Finland.

While artists like Mapplethorpe, Von Schiele, Dali are no longer with us, there were several contemporary artists in attendance. Ironically, many were their own reference. Donning campy and oversized Marc Jacobs, Anna Weyant looked like she had stepped out of one of her own girlish and unsettling paintings. Artist Amy Sherald wore a Thom Browne number that was inspired by her painting Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance) (2013).

The Met Gala is one of the most glamorous nights of the year and with that can come controversy as to its lavish displays. Yet, it seems timely that the Costume Institute’s theme this year confirms that beyond the spectacle of the carpet, the purpose of the gala is to raise significant funding for the arts. Despite its exclusivity, protecting accessibility to arts is the greatest gift of fashion’s night out. Having succeeded in doing so, the museum will continue to share fashion with everyone who climbs up the steps of the Met every other day of the year and inspire them to appreciate fashion as art.

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Chiara Padejka

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The Met Gala 2026: Straight Out of A Painting

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