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What is the Met Gala?
In brief
The Met Gala is the Costume Institute Benefit, an annual fundraiser at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It takes place on the first Monday in May and is the Costume Institute’s main source of annual funding. The 2026 gala, on 4 May, marked the exhibition Costume Art. The Met has not yet announced the 2027 date.
Key points
- The Met Gala’s formal name is The Costume Institute Benefit.
- The Met says it takes place annually on the first Monday in May, and its proceeds are The Costume Institute’s primary source of annual funding.
- The 2026 gala was held on Monday 4 May, with the dress code “Fashion is Art”, for the exhibition Costume Art.
- The Met withdrew its planned 2027 exhibition, John Galliano: Horizons, on 31 August 2026 and says the 2027 gala will be announced later.
What does the Met Gala raise money for?
The gala is a fundraiser for The Costume Institute, the Met’s fashion department. The Met says ↗ the proceeds give The Costume Institute its primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions and operations, and also support other museum activities.
The evening is tied to the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition. In 2026 the benefit celebrated the opening of Costume Art, and the dress code was chosen to match the show’s theme.
When is the Met Gala?
The Met says the gala takes place annually on the first Monday in May. The 2026 edition was held on Monday 4 May 2026 at the museum in New York; see our Met Gala 2026 event page.
For 2027, The Met has not announced a date. On 31 August 2026 the museum and John Galliano said the planned exhibition John Galliano: Horizons ↗ would not proceed, and that a new spring exhibition and the 2027 Met Gala would be announced at a later date. No such announcement was among The Met’s press releases when we checked on 22 October 2026. Our Met Gala 2027 page tracks the news.
What was the 2026 Met Gala theme?
The 2026 gala marked the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, Costume Art, on view at The Met Fifth Avenue from 10 May 2026 to 10 January 2027. The dress code was “Fashion is Art”. The show pairs garments with artworks across nearly 400 objects from The Met’s collection, and it is the first exhibition in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a space of nearly 12,000 square feet next to the Great Hall.
Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour co-chaired the evening. The models photographed on the steps, with designer credits, are on our Met Gala 2026 red carpet page.
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Quick answers
Related questions
Why is it called the Met Gala?
- It is held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, known as the Met. Its formal name is The Costume Institute Benefit, and it raises money for the museum’s Costume Institute, for which it is the primary source of annual funding.
When is the 2027 Met Gala?
- The Met has not announced it. After the planned John Galliano exhibition was withdrawn on 31 August 2026, the museum said details of a new spring exhibition and the 2027 gala would follow at a later date. The Met says the gala takes place annually on the first Monday in May.
What was the Met Gala 2026 dress code?
- “Fashion is Art”. The Met said it invited guests to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form, in step with the Costume Institute’s 2026 exhibition, Costume Art, which runs until 10 January 2027.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- The Met — new details for the 2026 Met Gala and Costume Art (23 February 2026) checked 22 October 2026
- The Met — announcement on the spring 2027 Costume Institute exhibition (31 August 2026) checked 22 October 2026
- The Met — press releases (latest list) checked 22 October 2026
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