Heidi Klum attends the 2026 Met Gala; Anne Hathaway attends the 2026 Met Gala; Madonna attends the 2026 Met Gala.
Credit: Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty; Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty (2)
NEED TO KNOW
The 2026 Met Gala theme celebrated the Met’s “Costume Art” exhibition with the dress code “Fashion Is Art”
Stars like Madonna, Heidi Klum and Anne Hathaway drew inspiration from iconic artworks for their gala looks
The exhibit opens to the public on May 10 and will run through Jan. 10, 2027
Some celebs took the 2026 Met Gala’s “Fashion Is Art” dress code literally, using real masterpieces as their muse.
Vogue announced in February 2026 that this year’s event would celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s upcoming “Costume Art” exhibition. The installation will explore “the centrality of the dressed body,” according to curator Andrew Bolton.
“What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,” he told Vogue at the time. “Even the nude is never naked. It’s always inscribed with cultural values and ideas.”
To honor that central theme, guests were asked to interpret fashion as a fine art form — and stars like Madonna, Heidi Klum and Anne Hathaway understood the assignment.
Read on to see the 2026 Met Gala outfits side-by-side with the pieces of art that inspired them.
01 of 11
Madonna as Leonora Carrington’s “The Temptation of St. Anthony. Fragment II”
Madonna attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Leonora Carrington.
Credit: Michael Loccisano/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty; Alamy
With the help of seven ladies-in-waiting, Madonna wore a massive Saint Laurent slip dress and cape that referenced Leonora Carrington’s “The Temptation of St. Anthony. Fragment II.”
She completed the look with a hat in the style of a ship and held a horn, much like the painting she modeled it after.
According to Vogue, this isn’t the first time the singer used the Surrealist female painter as a muse — the music video for her 1995 hit “Bedtime Story” was also inspired by Carrington’s work.
02 of 11
Anne Hathaway as a Grecian Urn
Anne Hathaway’s dress at the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; Greek Terracotta neck amphor.
Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty; Prisma/UIG/Getty
The Devil Wears Prada 2 star wowed at the 2026 Met Gala in a custom Michael Kors Collection dress that was inspired by John Yeats‘ 1819 “Ode to a Grecian Urn.”
Her gown even featured a depiction of Eirene, the goddess of peace and tranquility.
03 of 11
Heidi Klum as the “Veiled Vestal”
Heidi Klum attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; Veiled Vestal by Raffaelle Monti.
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Smudge Whisker/Alamy
Nobody does the Met Gala like Klum, and 2026 was no different.
The model and TV personality shared in a May 2026 Instagram post that she worked with Mike Marino to bring Italian artist Raffaele Monti’s “Veiled Vestal” sculpture to life, quite literally, using latex and spandex to create an “illusion of carved marble.”
04 of 11
Rachel Zegler as Delaroche’s “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey”
Rachel Zegler attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; The Execution of Lady Jane Grey in the Tower of London in the Year 1554 by Paul Delaroche.
Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty
In a May 2026 Instagram post, Rachel Zegler wrote that her Prabal Gurung-designed outfit was “paying homage” to Paul Delaroche’s “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey.”
She added that Lady Jane Gray “was queen for just nine days before she paid the price, and so are the rest of us.”
05 of 11
Hunter Schafer as Gustav Klimt’s “Mäda Primavesi”
Hunter Schafer attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; Portrait of Mäda Primavesi, 1912 by Gustav Klimt.
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty
Hunter Schafer stunned in a custom Prada gown that reflected Gustav Klimt’s 1912 painting “Mäda Primavesi.”
Her hairstylist, Rena Calhoun, told Dazed in May 2026 that she even brushed blue hair color through the actress’ hair to mimic a watercolor effect.
06 of 11
Gracie Abrams as Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Blochbauer I”
Gracie Abrams attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907 by Gustav Klimt.
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty
Schafer wasn’t the only star to pull inspiration from Klimt’s body of work.
Fans quickly connected the dots between Gracie Abrams’ bejeweled Chanel frock and the artist’s painting “Portrait of Adele Blochbauer I.” At the Met Gala, the singer told the Wall Street Journal Magazine that she was moved by the artwork and “all of the construction” that went into the gown.
07 of 11
Kylie Jenner as “Venus de Milo”
Kylie Jenner attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; The Venus de Milo sculpture.
Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty;Â Zhang Weiguo/VCG via Getty
Kylie Jenner’s deconstructed custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture fit was inspired by the “Venus de Milo.”
The Ancient Greek sculpture — believed to be the goddess of love, Aphrodite — has been a staple at the Louvre since 1821.
08 of 11
Kendall Jenner as the “Winged Victory of Samothrace”
Kendall Jenner attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; The Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture.
Credit: Cindy Ord/MG26/Getty; SEBASTIEN DUPUY/AFP via Getty
Zac Posen literally pulled the white Gap tee off his back to create the blueprint of Kendall Jenner’s iconic look, inspired by the Greek statue of the goddess of victory housed at the Louvre.
“[I] started pulling it and tweaking it and figuring out how — in a contemporary way, in a glamorous way — to interpret the sculpture that influenced humanity and our modern culture,” the Gap Inc. creative director told Vogue at the Gala.
09 of 11
Ben Platt as Georges Seurat’s “Island of La Grande Jatte”
Ben Platt attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.
Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty; SuperStock/Alamy
Ben Platt literally wore his inspiration on his sleeve in a custom Tanner Fletcher suit designed with scenes pulled straight from Georges Seurat’s 1884 painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
Fletcher wrote in a May 2026 Instagram post that the ensemble “took over 120 hours of hand painting, embroidering and beading on silk wool.”
10 of 11
Amy Sherald as Amy Sherald’s “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)”
Amy Sherald attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; “Miss Everything” (Unsuppressed Deliverance) by Amy Sherald.
Credit: John Shearer/WireImage; Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty
American painter Amy Sherald arguably stole the evening in a custom Thom Browne look pulled from one of her very own paintings: the 2014 portrait “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance).”
The designer gave the artist all the credit in a May 2026 interview with Vanity Fair, saying that the gown referenced one of Sherald’s “best and most important paintings to herself.”
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Kim Kardashian as Allen Jones’ “Body Armour”
Kim Kardashian attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 04, 2026 in New York City; Body Armour by Allen Jones.
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; ukartpics/Alamy
Kim Kardashian wore a literal piece of art to the 2026 Met Gala, donning an orange metallic breastplate repurposed from molds by British pop artist Allen Jones (and created in an auto body shop).
The reality TV star told Vogue in May 2026 that she’s a “big admirer” of Jones’ work, which she described as “sexy. Classic. Cool. Innovative.”
Read the original article on People
