The carpet was not red this year. Hand-painted to resemble a stone garden pathway - tan, patches of moss green, framed by wisteria lining the ceiling and walls - it looked less like a red carpet and more like a painting you had walked into. The 2026 Met Gala, built around the Costume Institute's new "Costume Art" exhibition, came with a perfectly straightforward dress code. Fashion is Art. Four hundred guests. One question. Who actually committed? 

The night's most anticipated moment arrived late and was delivered completely. After a 10-year absence, Beyoncé returned to the Met Gala steps in a skeleton-inspired custom Olivier Rousteing gown with a massive feathered train and intricate crystal headpiece, flanked by Jay-Z and their 14-year-old daughter Blue Ivy. Beyoncé described the experience as "surreal," adding that it felt "incredible to share it" with Blue. Jay-Z arrived in a suit - fine, but Blue Ivy, at 14, on the Met Gala carpet with her mother returning after a decade, was the more interesting story. 

Emma Chamberlain opened the carpet as Vogue's livestream host in a colourful custom Mugler by Miguel Castro Freitas that channelled a painter's palette - joyful, deliberate, immediately on theme. She set the standard early, and most guests spent the rest of the night catching up. Janelle Monáe arrived in a custom Christian Siriano dress featuring electrical wires, animatronic butterflies, and live moss. The brief said Fashion is Art. Monáe brought a functioning ecosystem. Heidi Klum transformed herself into a marble statue, inspired by Raffaele Monti's Veiled Vestal, with a custom look by makeup artist Mike Marino that painted her face, hands, and feet in stone. When asked about it on the livestream, she said simply: "Fashion is art, art is fashion." Her only complaint was the heat. The commitment is unmatched. Chase Infiniti wore McQueen and looked precisely like what the exhibition was built around - a dressed body as an art object. Clean, elegant, completely considered. 

‍Rachel Zegler channelled the 1883 painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche and added a blindfold as the finishing accessory. Dramatic, specific, historically grounded. Karan Johar made his Met Gala debut in a custom Manish Malhotra ensemble inspired by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, saying, "Raja Ravi Varma felt right because his work does something I've always tried to do in cinema. He painted feelings." On his first Met Gala appearance, Johar arrived with context, intention, and a designer who understood both. That is how you debut. Sabine Getty brought old-world glamour that felt entirely at home on a carpet designed to look like a Renaissance garden pathway - one of the quieter standout looks of the evening. 

Kendall Jenner worked with Zac Posen on a custom GapStudio gown inspired by the Victory of Samothrace - a Hellenistic Greek sculpture currently in the Louvre. Conceptually considered. Keke Palmer arrived in a strawberry red off-the-shoulder gown wearing a $1 million Wempe necklace - red on red, worn with full conviction. Tyla brought mermaid energy. Doja Cat leaned into dark glamour. Teyana Taylor delivered. SZA was joyful. Anok Yai wore Balenciaga, accessorised with golden tears - a small detail that did more work than most full looks on the carpet. Rihanna arrived glittering. Doechii went barefoot with a dramatic headpiece and said on the livestream: "The Met is very clean. Not the streets of New York City, but the Met is very clean. And I'm here. I'm committed." Commitment noted. Kris Jenner arrived in Dolce and Gabbana alongside Kim Kardashian - Kim in a look by Allen Jones and Whitaker Malem that leaned softer than her usual Met Gala register. Wisdom Kaye was present. 

Then there was Grandpa Benito. Bad Bunny wore Zara and serious prosthetics to appear several decades older. When asked how many hours the look took, he said: "53 years exactly." Whether this is absurdist genius or a very expensive Halloween costume is a debate the internet will settle.

What is undeniable is that he committed, and in a room full of people who played it safe, that counts for something. Jaafar Jackson, currently deep in the artist's mindset from playing his uncle Michael Jackson in the new Lionsgate biopic, made his Met Gala debut. It is his first time. 

A suit at the Met Gala is not a statement. It is the absence of one. When the dress code is Fashion is Art and the carpet is full of marble statues, animatronic butterflies, living moss, and feathered trains - a well-tailored suit reads less as a choice and more as a refusal to make one. Most of the men on the carpet this year opted for exactly that. Jaafar Jackson gets a pass. It was his first time. The others had no such excuse. 

"Fashion is Art" turns out to be the easiest dress code to ignore and the hardest one to actually pull off. The gap between those two things was visible all night. 

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