Scarlett Harris
Fashion critic

Gala co-chair and Vogue's global editorial director, Anna Wintour, has arrived to the event's red carpet. She is known as the "mother of the Met Gala".

She's accompanied by her daughter Bee Carrozzini.

Wintour characteristically keeps it subdued in a teal custom Chanel. No groundbreaking florals for spring, but she, along with co-chair Nicole Kidman, also in custom Chanel, might be starting the trend of the night in feathers…

Image source, Getty Images

Scarlett Harris
Fashion critic

Image source, Getty Images

Famed celebrity stylist Law Roach, who usually dresses Zendaya for the Met Gala in looks that never disappoint, is attending solo this year.

This means “the Met is about me,” he told Elle magazine, revealing that he’ll be decked out in a white suit by French label Ami’s designer Alexandre Mattiussi for the magazine rather than on the Met steps.

Roach commissioned the Gabonese artist and architect Naïla Opiangah to embellish his wearable canvas in a blue, green and brown abstract depiction of figures embracing.

“She’s an architect by trade. I’m the only Image Architect in the world. So everything felt right.” he told Elle.

Image source, Getty Images

We've now gotten hold of the full guest list for tonight.

There are over 300 people going - including many of the biggest names in entertainment.

But some notable celebs appear to be skipping the event tonight.

Zendaya and her fiance Tom Holland won't be walking the carpet. Zendaya has been known to serve some iconic looks, but tonight her stylist Law Roach will attend on his own.

Timothee Chalamet is also not on the list of attendees. Is the actor skipping the Met in favour of the New York Knicks' basketball game tonight? Maybe we'll see him there. His girlfriend, beauty mogul Kylie Jenner, will be in attendance.

Meryl Streep is another notable absence. She's currently promoting Devil Wears Prada 2, in which she plays a fictionalised version of former Vogue editor and Met Gala host Anna Wintour.

Two of our favourite pop girls, Rhianna and Katy Perry, are missing from the list as well. But celebrities have been known to show up on the red carpet late and unannounced. Stay tuned.

Image source, Getty Images

Met Gala guests must follow a specific set of rules when attending the event.

Famously, there are no phones allowed inside the museum, meaning no social media. But this hasn’t stopped celebrities from snapping a quick bathroom selfie in the past.

The guest list is kept a secret until the night of the event and is exclusively decided by Anna Wintour, as is the meticulously planned seating chart.

Guests must have an invite to attend, but brands are still expected to buy tickets, which can go as high as $75,000 each.

All looks worn by celebrities must be on theme. Wintour approves each outfit the night before the event.

There are even rules for the food that guests eat. Chives, onions and garlic are banned from the menu. Wintour has said in the past that this is a matter of personal preference — she simply doesn’t like those ingredients.

Image source, Reuters

American influencer Emma Chamberlain has arrived on the Met Gala red carpet, wearing a colourful dress with long draping sleeves.

Tonight, she's one of Vogue's red carpet correspondents, so you can expect to see her chatting to celebs on-camera shortly.

Chamberlain is wearing a custom Mugler by Miguel Castro Freitas, inspired by the La Chimère Butterfly look of Thierry Mugler Spring/Summer 1997 Couture.

Image source, Getty Images

The Met Gala, in short, is the fashion industry's biggest and most exclusive party of the year.

It's held in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art each year, and it's attended by huge names from the world of film, fashion and music.

It always takes place on the first Monday in May, which some have affectionately named "Met Monday".

Although the public never gets to see inside the event, where the guests are treated to dinner, cocktails, live music and a look around the costume institute's new exhibition, the lengthy red carpet event beforehand ensures acres of media coverage.

Usually only a few hundred guests are invited to the exclusive party. Often, the biggest brands will buy a table, and use it to host their desired celebrities. The label benefits if the celebrity is associated with them and wears one of their outfits on the red carpet.

The proceeds from ticket sales go to the costume institute. It's understood an individual ticket goes for around $75,000 (£56,000), while a 10-seat table starts at $350,000.

The world's biggest celebrities have descended on New York City ahead of tonight's Met Gala, and many of them have been photographed attending pre-gala parties over the weekend.

Gala co-chair Anna Wintour, actress Teyana Taylor, and styling duo Wayman + Micah each held parties in the city with star-studded guest lists.

Image source, GC Images

Image source, GC Images

Image source, GC Images

Image source, WWD via Getty Images

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from the Met Gala

Image source, BBC / Pratiksha Ghildial

On fashion’s biggest night, the glamour is clearly reserved for the celebrities who walk the red carpet.

We, the press, are packed like sardines on the sides of the steps.

There is standing room only here, and I can hear “pardon me” or “watch please” as members of the press try to make their way to their tiny spots.

Image source, Getty Images

The Met Gala guest list is kept under wraps until shortly before the event.

But our reporters on the red carpet have just received a copy - a full list of the 311 attendees expected to show up this year.

The one everyone is waiting for will undoubtedly be Beyoncé, who is one of the chairs of the event after a decade-long absence from Met Galas.

Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams are also co-chairing the event alongside former Vogue editor Anna Wintour, so they’ll be in attendance too.

Other big names on the list include Bad Bunny, fresh off a Grammy win and Superbowl performance, Kim Kardashian, A$AP Rocky, fashion designer Donatella Versace, JENNIE and LISA from BLACKPINK, and Bollywood director Karan Johar.

Similar to last year, there will be a Gala Host Committee, co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz.

Other host committee members include Sabrina Carpenter, Teyana Taylor, Alex Consani and Doja Cat.

As honorary chairs, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos will also be in attendance.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from the Met Gala

Image source, Pratiksha Ghildial/BBC

We’ve just gotten in place, along with the rest of the press, along the Met Gala’s famous steps.

Because reporters are visible behind the hedges in the photos that will be taken tonight, many of them go all out with their outfits too.

I, for one, already feel underdressed before any of the A-listers have even arrived!

Speaking of stars, the carpet will technically open at 17:00 local time (22:00 BST). It’s always interesting to see who pulls up early and who turns up at the last moment, often rushing in without stopping to talk to the gathered media.

Image source, Getty Images

This year’s spring show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is titled “Costume Art”, which is also the theme of the gala along with the dress code “Fashion is Art”.

“The show will examine the centrality of the dressed body, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the Museum’s vast collection to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform,” the Met explains in a press release.

The dress code, the Met says, invites guests “to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history”.

Grace Eliza Goodwin
Reporting from New York

The first Monday in May has arrived and that means the world’s biggest stars will be gracing the red carpet of the annual Met Gala.

Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams will be co-chairing the event, a yearly fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute in New York. And, as has been tradition for 30 years, they will be joining co-chair Anna Wintour, Vogue’s former editor-in-chief and de facto “mother of the Met Gala”.

The theme this year is “Costume Art”, alongside a dress code of “Fashion is Art” to coincide with the Costume Institute’s 2026 spring exhibition Costume Art, which opens on 10 May. The exhibition will be the first in the Met’s brand-new, nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall, the Conde M. Nast Galleries.

It’s hard to predict what we’ll see tonight with such a vague and expansive theme. While every year’s theme leaves plenty of room for creativity and artistic interpretation, past years have still been a tad more specific, like 2025’s menswear-focused theme "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” and 2024’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”.

We’ll keep you updated here with all the weirdest, wildest, and most creative costumes of fashion’s biggest night of the year.